Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has already become one of the most popular and controversial series on Netflix. Starring Evan Peters and with Ryan Murphy behind it, the story of the infamous Milwaukee butcher reached a high level of popularity on the streaming platform, to the point that the green light was given to turn it into an anthology focused on different murderers.
Beyond the controversy generated by the theme of the show, Peter received a lot of praise for his performance, even winning several awards, once again demonstrating his acting skills. The actor had already worked with Murphy many times, usually on rather quirky and dark roles. In fact, before taking on the role of Dahmer, he wasn't sure he wanted to continue with those types of characters. However, he changed his mind.
During his participation in The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actors Roundtable, Peters revealed the reasons why he decided to take the role:
“I definitely, I didn’t wanna play any more bad guys.I was like not doing that anymore. And then, of course, I read the script. And I don’t know, I just, I felt, I didn’t… First of all I didn’t know the story and the case of Jeffrey Dahmer and I think I was just, yeah, I was pretty upset about, just the amount of times that the police department and the justice system failed to stop him, because of racism, homophobia, prejudice. It was just, it was just too much. It was too much. And so, I was really compelled to try to push myself and try to dig into that and see really just give it 120%. And it was gonna be an incredible challenge, but it felt like the message of that piece was worth it to do that.”
The second season of Monster will follow the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, both convicted in 1966 for murdering their own parents, Jose and Marie Louise. During the trial, the brothers claimed that they committed the crimes because they feared his father would kill them after they threatened to expose all of his abuses.
Why Was Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story So Controversial?
Series and movies based on the life and heinous acts of criminals are commonplace in the industry. In fact, platforms like Netflix have achieved incredible viewing numbers thanks to documentaries focused on murderers like Ted Bundy, or with productions like Mindhunter, in which infamous criminals also appear.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story seemed to be just one more on the list, but as its popularity grew, so did the conflicts around it. The first big problem was that the show was categorized under Netflix's LGBT content label, which for members of the community was worrying because it was being suggested that categorization was important within the plot of the show.
Another who suffered the consequences of the show was the singer Katy Perry, since a song released in 2013, Dark Horse, refers to the murderer in one of its lines.
However, the two biggest points of controversy were the statements of Dahmer's father, who was upset that Netflix did not contact him either for the fictional series or for the documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes. And finally, relatives of the criminal's victims also spoke out against, not only the platform, but also any production company that decided to tell the story.