Erik Menendez tells TikTok supporters not to minimise or diminish “the seriousness of my crime”

Erik Menendez has called on TikTokers not to diminish the serious of his crime, as the movement for his and his brother Lyle’s release from prison gains momentum.

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Calls for their release have intensified following the emergence of new evidence that includes a letter written by a young Erik, which alleges that he was sexually abused by his father. Both brothers are currently serving a life sentence without parole for the first-degree murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.

The case has gained widespread attention in recent weeks following the release of Ryan Murphy’s scripted Netflix series, Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story.

A separate two-hour documentary titled The Menendez Brothers was also released on the streamer on Monday (October 7), along with a three-episode companion podcast, Introducing The Menendez Brothers, which features audio from Erik and Lyle speaking to director Alejandro Hartmann via phone calls from prison.

While opening up to the director, the brothers addressed the newfound hope for their release, but cautioned their supporters not to lose sight of the seriousness of their crime.

“I think the problem with TikTok is that you will find a black-and-white view of the story. Where they are like heroes, or they are like victims. The complexity is very hard to tell in 30 seconds, that’s the problem,” says Hartmann in the podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter).

“I really appreciate the support of the people that have written me and are supporting me — by supporting me, [people who] believe that I shouldn’t spend the rest of my life in prison,” says Erik. “I’ve heard about a lot of the videos, I’m sure there are very serious TikTok videos, but then I also know there are ones that are not. I only get to see what’s on TV and the stories about them. I do worry, and I think it’s important, that the seriousness of my crime not be minimised or diminished.”

He continues: “This tragedy has been deep, and every member of my family has been impacted. And sometimes I think a lot of that pain and tragedy gets lost in translation in some of the TikTok videos. So I think that it is important that we remember that two people are no longer alive and families have been devastated by this tragedy, and that I am at the centre of it. I am the one responsible. I don’t want that to be diminished or minimised in any way by people that support me and believe in me.”

Lyle then adds that he feels “lifted by collective hope,” which is something he has felt from the new generations now following their case. “The followers who are younger that are on that sort of TikTok social media generation, they really have tremendous hope. I’m willing to float along on their hope and we’ll see what happens.

“I’m not as hopeless as I was as a 21-year-old, that’s for sure,” he continues. “Obviously, I feel more hope when society seems to be understanding these experiences and sex abuse better. So I do have hope and I also see a lot of people paroling who have life sentences, and still going home and paroling because they’ve rehabilitated, and I certainly feel like my brother and I have rehabilitated.”

Erik, however, isn’t holding out hope. “I’ve been through so many disappointments when it comes to appeals of people rallying around trying to get signatures of the governor or attorneys believing that because the case law is evolving to understand the impact of childhood trauma, developmental trauma and how that now impacts us as adults, that laws are changing,” he says.

“But I am so leery of getting my hopes up because the court system has not given us any evidence that they will overturn the case. And so while I am hopeful and pray, I am worried about getting my hopes up about any appeal. Every time I get hopeful, the letdown is even more intense and profound and personal.”

He adds: “There’s a saying that hope is a good thing, but hope can be torturous. And it has been torturous in my life.”

Last week, in light of the new sexual abuse evidence in the case, Ryan Murphy suggested he may be interested in extending the second season of Monsters to continue the brothers’ story.

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