Netflix quietly removed the LGBTQ tag from Ryan Murphy's Dahmer series after receiving backlash from viewers.
Following the release of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the true crime show about convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Evan Peters), on Sept. 21, viewers slammed the decision to categorize it under the tag, calling it "gross" and "wrong," as first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
One TikTok user lamented that while it is "technically true" given that Dahmer was gay, "this is not the representation we're looking for."
@@lizthelezbo
The series chronicles Dahmer's murderous spree and dismemberment of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, many of whom were people of color. Also starring Niecy Nash, Richard Jenkins, and Molly Ringwald, the retelling has been billed as a series through the lens of the victims, but some of the victims' families do not agree.
Rita Isbell, the sister of one of Dahmer's victims, Errol Lindsey, condemned the adaptation in an essay for Insider published this week. Isbell's emotional victim impact statement, delivered in court at Dahmer's 1992 sentencing, was recreated in the series.
"I was never contacted about the show," she wrote. "I feel like Netflix should've asked if we mind or how we felt about making it."
Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer in DAHMER Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer in ‘Dahmer’ | Credit: Netflix
"They didn't ask me anything. They just did it," she continued. When Isbell watched some of the show, 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."
She went on, "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. 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. That's just greed."
Lindsey's cousin, Eric Perry, also condemned the adaptation on Twitter. "It's retraumatizing over and over again, and for what?" he wrote. "How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?"
Perry added in 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."
Representatives for Netflix and Murphy did not respond to EW's request for comment on the LGBTQ tag and Lindsey's family's remarks.