Ryan Murphy’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is one of Netflix’s most-streamed series of all-time and was just nominated for four Golden Globes. But it’s also drawn a lot of outrage from members of the LGBTQ community and from members of the victim’s families, who were upset that they hadn’t been consulted about the series.
Murphy said he understands the backlash that led to Netflix removing the LGBTQ tag from the dark series about the cannibalistic serial killer, but that he doesn’t agree with it.
“Many people in the community want to uplift. I understand that,” he told Variety on Tuesday, adding that he doesn’t think that all LGBTQ stories should be “uplifting.”
“It’s about homophobia. I have a saying: ‘My job as an artist is to hold up a mirror about what happened.’ It’s ugly. It’s not pretty. Do you want to look at it? If you do, watch it. If you don’t, look away, and sometimes, some of this outrage is directed at the frame of the mirror instead of the reflection. I try and say, I really understand why you’re upset about the inclusion of that. I understand it, but I also disagree with it personally,” he explained.
As for the victim’s families, he repeated that he reached out to them, but did not hear back. He has expressed support for a memorial in Milwaukee dedicated to Dahmer’s victims, a suggestion that was dismissed as an unwanted “afterthought,” by attorney Thomas M. Jacobson, who represented the families after Dahmer was convicted.
Both Murphy and Evan Peters, who stayed in character as Dahmer throughout production, seem to have been affected by going to such a dark, disturbing place with the series.
“Up until now, I always had an answer of ‘I want to do this’ or ‘I want to do that.’ I feel that with what I’ve been lucky enough to do, I feel very content. I have no interest keeping on that treadmill that I’ve been on for a very long time, so I’m going to get off. I’m interested in the not knowing,” Murphy told Variety before the news broke that Netflix had ordered more installments of both “Monster” and Murphy’s other true-crime docuseries, “Watcher.”
Said Murphy, “I bought a farm. I’m, for some reason, much more interested in chickens and daffodil bulbs. I’m interested in a different part of my life. For the first time I’m just chilling and not looking to do anything.”
For his part, Peters, said, “I’m going to take a little break from darker roles and explore the light. It would be interesting to me to play something that is a little closer to home, a little more mundane and to explore the details of those kinds of experiences.”
