The creator of Netflix’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has finally broken his silence over the vast amount of criticism directed at the show. Ryan Murphy originally made the comments at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday, however they were only published in the media over the weekend.
For context, the main critiques of the 10-part show have centred around its treatment of the serial killer’s victims. The fact that the series has been making immense an profit from a tragedy that still impacts the lives of so many families has been one of the more scathing pieces of criticism.
As per the Hollywood Reporter, Murphy told the DGA Theatre that “over the course of the three, three and a half years when we were really writing it, working on it — we reached out to 20, around 20, of the victims’ families and friends trying to get input, trying to talk to people.
“And not a single person responded to us in that process.
“So we relied very, very heavily on our incredible group of researchers who … I don’t even know how they found a lot of this stuff.
“But it was just like a night and day effort to us trying to uncover the truth of these people.”
Wow! I wonder why?
Since the events depicted in the series were on the public record, the creators were legally not required to consult the victims families as per The Guardian.
This prompted Eric Perry, the cousin of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey to tweet about his personal situation. The tweets appeared to contradict Ryan Murphy’s claims he attempted to contact many of the families.
So when they say they’re doing this “with respect to the victims” or “honoring the dignity of the families”, no one contacts them. My cousins wake up every few months at this point with a bunch of calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show. It’s cruel.
— eric. (@ericthulhu) September 23, 2022
“To answer the main question, no, they don’t notify families when they do this,” he tweeted.
“It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did.
“So when they say they’re doing this “with respect to the victims” or “honoring the dignity of the families”, no one contacts them.
“My cousins wake up every few months at this point with a bunch of calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show. It’s cruel.”
You can absolutely understand where Eric was coming from with his criticism.
With how much Dahmer-related media that has been produced since his killings (TV, radio, podcasts, docos etc.), the families must have had a gut-full of being reminded of their trauma.
In terms of hours watched on Netflix, the show has performed extremely well.
It landed a place on the platform’s top 15 most-viewed chart after only being live for just a few weeks despite the criticism.
