Netflix has quietly removed the LGBTQ tag from Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer after audiences bashed it.
After the September 21 release of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a true-crime series about convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Evan Peters), the streaming platform was criticized for the selected category the film was tagged, referring to it as “gross” and “wrong,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
A TikTok user ranted that although it is “technically true” considering that Dahmer was gay, “this is not the representation we’re looking for.”
The series follows the Dahmer murders and how he dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, many of whom were people of color.
The series, and its retelling, which also stars Niecy Nash, Richard Jenkins, and Molly Ringwald, has been billed as one from the victim’s perspective, although some of the victim’s families disagree.
The sister of one of Dahmer’s victims named Rita Isbell criticized the retelling in an insider essay published this week. Isbell’s heartbreaking victim impact statement, given in court at the 1992 sentencing of Dahmer, was adapted into the show.
“I was never contacted about the show,” she said. “I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it.”
She added, “They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.”
After she watched parts of the series, she wrote, “it bothered me, especially when I saw myself – when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said. It brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then.”
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Dahmer Film Revive Pain
She continued that it was not money for her but the children of the victims.
“I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about: Netflix trying to get paid. I could even understand it if they gave some of the money to the victims’ children. Not necessarily their families,” she said.
“I mean, I’m old. I’m very, very comfortable. But the victims have children and grandchildren. If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless. It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy.”
Lindsey’s cousin, Eric Perry, offered the same sentiment as Isbell, slamming the show on Twitter.
“It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what?” he tweeted. “How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”
Perry added a follow-up tweet: “Like recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is WILD.”
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Photo: Cheatsheet
