The reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian reportedly went with actor Cooper Koch to visit Erik and Lyle Menendez in prison after the release of Ryan Murphy’s anthology Monsters. The group spoke about prison reform.
The day after Erik Menendez released a statement denouncing the controversial Netflix anthology series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, he and his brother Lyle were visited in prison by Kim Kardashian and Cooper Koch, one of the leads. According to a report, the reality TV star-turned-actress Kardashian and Koch were present at San Diego County’s Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility to speak about prison reform. The duo spoke to a group of about 40 inmates, including the Menendez brothers.
Kim Kardashian, Cooper Koch visit the Menendez brothers
As per the tabloid TMZ, Kardashian and Koch spoke about Greenspace, a reform strategy aimed at improving prison yards to aid inmate rehabilitation. Lyle and Erik Menendez have both been involved in this initiative for a while. Kardashian, who is also pursuing a law degree and considers herself to be a criminal justice advocate, stars in a new Ryan Murphy production All’s Fair about an all-female law firm. Koch plays Erik Menendez in the second season of Monsters. Nicholas Alexander Chavez plays older brother Lyle.
Their visit comes after the show and its producer has come under fire for its portrayal of the Menendez family and the brothers’ relationship. The brothers were arrested in 1990 of murdering their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez the year before in their family home in Beverly Hills. They were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Erik Menendez denounces Monsters anthology
Through his wife Tammi Menendez, Erik blasted Murphy and the series for their “dishonest portrayal” of their lives. He said in a statement, “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes 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.”
He continued: “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 Sєxually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women. Those awful lies have been disrupted 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.”
Erik concluded, “Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.” The previous season of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was also criticised by victims’ families for how the show “retraumized” them with its glorification of the serial killer.
