Actor who plays Erik Menendez in ‘Monsters’ With the Convicted Murderer

• Erik Menendez told Cooper Koch he “did a great job” playing him in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” Koch said.
• The series revolves around the 1989 murder of José and Kitty Menendez by their two sons.
• The series has received criticism for alleged inaccuracies.

Actor Cooper Koch said Erik Menendez told him he thought he “did a great job” portraying him in the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, despite Menendez previously criticizing the show for alleged inaccuracies.

Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series centers on Erik and his older brother, Lyle Menendez, who shot and killed their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.

Koch, who plays Erik, told The Hollywood Reporter that he came face to face with both Menendez brothers last week during a prison visit hosted by Kim Kardashian.

Koch said he and Erik recognized each other almost immediately during a visit to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, where both brothers are serving life sentences.

“We were walking in the gym (of the prison), and the first person I saw was Erik. And we looked at each other, and he smiled and I smiled, and we hugged,” Koch said. “And it was really powerful and emotional. It was an amazing experience.”

The actor noted that both Erik and his older brother, who was also in attendance, were “so nice” and “so normal.”

While Erik told Koch that he had yet to watch the series, he praised the actor for his performance.

“One of the first things Erik said was, ‘I know you’re doing a great job. You did a great job in episode five (‘The Hurt Man’) and I’m going to watch it. I just know, you know, it’s difficult,” Koch said.

In the fifth episode of the show, Erik opens up about his father’s alleged sexual and emotional abuse. As the brothers claimed during their high-profile trial, they killed their parents in self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father.

“I talked to him about it, which was crazy to me,” Koch said.

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As THR reported, Koch’s visit to the Menendez brothers was organized by Kardashian, who has a law degree and has advocated for criminal justice reform.

Kardashian FaceTime called Koch to arrange the visit just days before it happened, according to THR.

As Business Insider previously reported, “The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” takes dramatic license on the brothers’ personal lives and streamlines some of the legal proceedings to fit the limited series.

When the series was released, Tammi Menendez, Erik’s wife, shared a statement on behalf of her husband about X, criticizing the show for “creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies.”

Murphy responded to Erik’s criticism in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.

“I think it’s interesting that he made a statement without having seen the show,” he said, adding: “It’s really, really hard – when it’s your life – to see your life on screen. “

But earlier this week, Tammi shared an additional statement about X that she said came from the Menendez family.

“Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monsters: the Lyle and Erik Story’ is a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with falsehoods and outright falsehoods, but also ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations,” the report said.

According to Koch, he and Erik talked about the reaction the show has received to certain creative decisions.

“I spoke to him about his statement,” Koch told THR. “And you know, I just told him I understand where he’s coming from. I sympathize with him.’

“I can’t imagine what it must be like to see the worst parts of your life portrayed on television in this fictionalized, dramatized way, you know, and so I just told him that I have his back,” he continued. “I understand what that must feel like and that it is very difficult.”