Kim Kardashian visits Erik and Lyle Menendez in prison after Netflix backlash

Kim Kardashian paid an unexpected visit to prison to speak with Erik and Lyle Menendez after a Netflix dramatisation of their life.

Attention has been brought to the brothers’ case due to the backlash surrounding Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, created by Ryan Murphy.

Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, were jailed for life without the possibility of parole in 1996, after confessing to the murder of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez.

During the trial, they claimed they acted in self-defence, having been sexually abused by their father from as young as six years old.

The show has proved controversial, with a series of ‘incestuous’ scenes between the brothers coming under fire from family members and Erik himself.

Kim, 43, is said to have visited at the weekend to discuss prison reform with the brothers as well as the Greenspace project, which they are involved in.

She was joined by her sister Khloe and actor Cooper Koch, who stars as Erik in the show, at San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.

The reality star, who is training as a lawyer and advocates for prison reform, has previously worked with Ryan in his series American Horror Story.

Kim is set to work with him once again on a series called All’s Fair, made specifically for her by the Glee creator.

Erik dismissed the Netflix dramatisation as filled with ‘blatant lies’, stating that the Ryan could ‘only have bad intent’.

In a statement, released by his wife Tammi, he said: ‘I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose.

‘It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.

‘It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.

‘Those awful lies have been disputed and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.’

Fans have expressed similar sentiment online, having watched scenes in which Erik and Lyle (portrayed by Nicholas Chavez) share a shower and kiss.

Given the brothers’ defence that they were sexually abused by their father, this has been widely criticised as inappropriate and harmful.

This is the second time the Monster anthology series has come under fire as in 2022, the true crime series The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was also criticised.

Despite being a huge hit with Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, the families of the murderer’s victims said the show was profiting off their grief and ‘retraumatising’ them again.