A Menéndez trial expert weighs in all of the homoerotic incest stuff in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Many people, from viewers to one of the actual subjects of the show, have been criticizing Ryan Murphy's new miniseries Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story — especially the way it portrays the two real-life Menéndez brothers and their relationship with each other.

The Menéndez brothers, Lyle and Erik, rose to infamy in the '90s during some highly-publicized trials where they were convicted of murdering their parents back in 1989. The two argued that the killing came after the years of abuse (including sexual abuse) that the brothers faced at the hands of their father, Jose Menéndez. Monsters chronicles their story.

Several scenes from the new Netflix show have heavily hinted that the two brothers had a sexual, borderline homoerotic relationship, The Hollywood Reporter points out. These scenes include moments when the brothers kiss, a scene where Lyle cuts in on Erik while he's dancing with a woman, a scene where Lyle sticks his thumb in his brother's mouth, and a scene (that is depicted as fantasy) where their mother walks in on them showering together.

However, there is no evidence that any of this really happened IRL. At their second trial, Lyle even testified that he had never had a sexual relationship with his brother.

Robert Rand, who covered their case as a reporter and wrote the definitive book on their crime, 2018's The Menéndez Murders, also told The Hollywood Reporter that the brothers relationship was not sexual.

"I don't believe that Erik and Lyle Menéndez were ever lovers. I think that’s a fantasy that was in the mind of Dominick Dunne [a reporter played by Nathan Lane in the show]," Rand said to THR. "Rumors were going around the trial that maybe there was some sort of weird relationship between Erik and Lyle themselves. But I believe the only physical contact they might have had is what Lyle testified, that when Lyle was 8 years old, he took Erik out in the woods and played with him with a toothbrush — which is what [their father] José had done with him. And so I certainly wouldn’t call that a sexual relationship of any sort. It’s a response to trauma."

Kim Kardashian and out actor Cooper Koch (who plays Erik Menéndez in the series) visited the brothers in prison recently after Erik had spoken out against the show through a statement from his wife.

Ryan Murphy and Netflix have yet to publicly respond to this controversy.