CNN
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Lyle and Erik Menendez weren’t happy with a recent Netflix project about their lives, but another title from the streamer is giving them an opportunity to have their say.
In “The Menendez Brothers,” a new documentary, the two men speak in extended interviews about what happened in the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, inside the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.
Public interest in the Menendez case was reignighted recently by Ryan Murphy’s Netflix dramatization of the murders in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” which the brothers have described as “blatant lies.”
Prosecutors in Los Angeles announced last week they are reviewing new evidence presented in their case ahead of a hearing next month.
Here’s what the new documentary reveals:
Erik, now 53, and Lyle, 56, who have been incarcerated for decades for the murders, gave interviews to director Alejandro Hartmann.
The recorded calls from prison tell their story in their own words,
“Lyle was the only person that had ever protected me,” his brother said.
The pair have said that they were driven to murder their parents after years of alleged sexual abuse by their father, which, they claim, their mother was aware of.
Social media has helped a new generation discover the case and there is now a movement to get them released.
TikTok, in particular, has been a popular forum for commentary and a reexamination of evidence.
“The only reason we’re doing this special is because of the TikTok movement,” Pamela Bozanich, a prosecutor on the first trial, says in the documentary.
The brothers have also attracted celebrity support from people like Rosie O’Donnell and Kim Kardashian.
The new documentary also gives insight into what life behind bars has been like for the siblings.
The pair had initially fought to serve time together in the same facility. According to Lyle Menendez, it “was tremendously painful” when that didn’t happen.
They were united in 2018 when he was transferred to the prison in San Diego, California, where Erik Menendez was being held. They now communicate daily.
“The Menendez Brothers” is streaming on Netflix.
