- Erik Menendez told Cooper Koch he “did a great job” playing him in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” Koch said.
- The series centers on the 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menendez by their two sons.
- The series has faced criticism over alleged inaccuracies.
Actor Cooper Koch said Erik Menendez told him he thought he “did a great job” portraying him in Netflix’s true crime series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” — despite Menendez having previously criticized the show for alleged inaccuracies.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series centers on Erik and his older brother, Lyle Menendez, who shot and killed their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.
Koch, who portrays Erik, told The Hollywood Reporter that he came face-to-face with both Menendez brothers during a prison visit last week set up by Kim Kardashian.
Koch said that he and Erik recognized each other almost immediately during a visit to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, where both brothers are serving life sentences.
“We walked in the [prison’s] gymnasium, and the first person that I saw was Erik. And we locked eyes, and he smiled and I smiled, and we hugged each other,” Koch said. “And it was really, really powerful and emotional. It was an amazing experience.”
The actor noted that both Erik and his elder brother, who was also present, “were so kind” and “so normal.”
While Erik told Koch that he had yet to watch the series, he praised the actor for his performance.
“One of the first things Erik said was, ‘I know you’re doing great. You did a great job in episode five [“The Hurt Man”] and I’m going to watch it. I just, you know, it’s difficult,'” Koch said.
The show’s fifth episode sees Erik open up about his father’s alleged sexual and emotional abuse. As the brothers claimed during their high-profile trial, they killed their parents in self-defense after being sexually abused by their father for years.
“I spoke to him about it, which was insane for me,” Koch said.
As THR reported, Koch’s visit with the Menendez brothers was arranged by Kardashian, who has been pursuing a law degree and who has advocated for criminal justice reform.
Kardashian FaceTime called Koch to set up the visit just days before it happened, per THR.
As Business Insider previously reported, “The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” takes some dramatic license with the brothers’ personal lives and streamlines some of the legal proceedings to fit the limited series.
As the series was released, Tammi Menendez, Erik’s wife, shared a statement on X on behalf of her husband, criticizing the show for “creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies.”
Murphy responded to Erik’s criticism in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” he said, adding: “It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen.”
But earlier this week, Tammi shared an additional statement on X that she said was from the Menendez family.
“Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monsters: the Lyle and Erik Story’ is a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations,” it said.
According to Koch, he and Erik spoke about the backlash the show has received for certain creative decisions.
“I spoke to him about his statement,” Koch told THR. “And, you know, I just told him that I understand where he’s coming from. I feel for him.”
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to have the worst parts of your life be portrayed on television in this fictionalized, dramatized way, you know, and so I just told him that I stand with him,” he continued. “I understand how that must feel and that it’s really difficult.”
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