The Menendez Brothers, Privilege, And The Issue With True Crime And Celebrity Advocacy
HuffPost
Amid a controversial Netflix series and high-profile support, the siblings convicted of murdering their parents may soon walk. But that could present a double standard.
Not a day has gone by in the past several weeks that the words “Menendez brothers” haven’t appeared at the top of a social media timeline or in a news headline. It’s, well, almost like we’ve jumped into a time machine back to 1993, the year that Court TV broadcasted Lyle and Erik Menendez’s trial for the murders of their parents Kitty and José Menendez.
The brothers, who were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms, were the subject of relentless judgment and chatter from the peanut gallery watching from home.
This time, though, the narrative around them is different. Amid recent true crime narratives — a podcast as well as both a documentary and scripted drama on Netflix — that revisit their case, a younger and newly informed generation has especially been looking at the pair’s case through a fresh and more empathetic lens.
Now, despite decades of attempts by the siblings’ legal teams to appeal their sentencing, a judge is now seriously considering their plea based on new evidence supporting their original defense that their parents were abusing them. A hearing for their case is set for Nov. 26. As a result, they could be released very soon.
As encouraging as that is for Lyle and Erik, and many other alleged victims of sexual abuse whose claims are too often ignored, the impact of the newly reframed pop culture conversation around them brings up a whole host of complicated thoughts.