Rosie O'Donnell Slams Netflix's Monsters, Says 'There's So Much New Evidence' in Menendez Brothers Case

Rosie O’Donnell is speaking out on the Menendez brothers amid the renewed attention their case is getting.

O’Donnell, who has been a longtime advocate of Lyle and Erik Menendez, spoke to News Nation after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced at a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 3, that he is "keeping an open mind" about the Menendez brothers' bid for release.

O’Donnell told host Chris Cuomo that the brothers are "hesitant to hope after being in prison for 35 years and being abused for his childhood up to that point."

She added, "These men don't have a lot of bandwidth to hope for what exactly happened.”

Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they burst into the den of their home in Beverly Hills, Calif., with 12-gauge shotguns and fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, while the couple watched TV on Aug. 20, 1989.

Jose, the head of RCA Records at the time of his murder, was shot multiple times. including point blank in the head. Kitty, 47, suffered 15 gunshot wounds, including one to the face.

The killings, according to the brothers, came after years of sexual abuse by their Hollywood executive father — alleged abuse which they insisted was ignored by their mom, a former pageant queen.

However, prosecutors at the time said the two brothers’ motive was greed, citing the lavish spending spree — which involved expensive watches, cars and tennis lessons — they went on after the slayings.

Since then, there have been efforts to overturn their convictions. Most recently, in May 2023, attorneys for the brothers filed a petition with Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing new evidence in the case.

In the petition, attorneys cited sexual abuse allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, against Jose, whom he claims raped him in the 1980s. The brother’s attorneys also pointed to a newly discovered letter Erik wrote to his now-deceased cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the killings.

At Thursday's press conference, Gascón told reporters that his office has "a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us" to decide if the brothers should be resentenced or if a new hearing of the case is "appropriate." Gascón added, "If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time, and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would have come to a different conclusion."

During her interview, O’Donnell, who last year interviewed Lyle Menendez on her podcast, said there's been a big push among young people to free the brothers.

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“It got people interested in the documentary about Roy Rosselló, the Menudo member, and how he was savagely raped by Jose and was bleeding,” she said. “And it was a very horrifying depiction of what happened to him and what happened to him ever since. And then with the Lyle letter that came out, it was like, there's so much new evidence that they must take a look at the fact that in 1989 no one was ready to believe that fathers raped their sons. But they do. And it is scary."

Recently, O’Donnell in a TikTok video criticized the Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, as “wildly inaccurate.”

“It was disappointing is all I can say,” she said. “I don't know why we needed to make it if we're just going to continue to blame these children for the abuse they suffered and their reaction to it before their brains were fully formed. Don't know, but that's what it feels like to me.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.