'Monsters' Actor Nicholas Chavez Slammed For Posing With 'Warped' Halloween Fans Dressed as Parent-Massacring Menendez Brothers
Oct. 29 2024, Published 5:42 p.m. ET
Nicholas Chavez has been blasted for posing up with fans dressed as the murderous Menendez brothers for Halloween.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the actions of the actor, who played Lyle Menendez in Ryan Murphy's hit Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has been branded "distasteful" by supporters of the brothers, who were jailed in 1996 for murdering their parents seven years previously.
The pair could soon be paroled courtesy of a retrial in light of the alleged abuse they suffered.
Chavez, 25, posed for a photo alongside two unidentified Halloween partiers - one of whom was wearing a blood-splattered shirt.
Taking to Reddit, fans also said Chavez’s decision was "bizarre", given his public backing of the brothers.
One user wrote: "He's spoken about believing Lyle and Erik both were subject to extreme abuse and were railroaded.
"I did think his portrayal of Lyle in the scenes detailing the abuse showed that he'd put the work in, in sympathizing with Lyle's anguish. This is very disappointing, from his side."
Another referenced Murphy's previous serial killer series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, writing: “Disgusting and insensitive... just as people dressing up as Dahmer was insensitive to the victims. Let's not give these folks the attention they crave, please."
A third user wrote: "I'm so disappointed with him. He deserves to be called out for this. It's very disrespectful. I agree with everyone's opinion about this since these photos were posted.
"I don’t even know if I'll still support him as an actor. However, people should also call out those two men who wore those outfits."
However, some Reddit users defended Chavez, with one writing: "I'm not shocked by this. I think in Nicholas's case, he didn't mean anything by it. He probably just saw two fans and couldn't say 'no thanks' to a picture."
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They continued: "Sadly, we're gonna see a lot of people dress up as the Menendez brothers. Halloween is a time where you see a lot of stupidity like this. I remember when Steve Irwin died, I saw so many people dressed up like him with a stingray coming out of their body.
"I can't get outraged over everything I see. I'm too outraged over other stuff that is affecting my life at this point.
“Honestly, if we were to ask the Menendez Brothers what they thought, they would just roll their eyes because they're so used to the stupidity."
Chavez stars alongside Cooper Koch, 28, who plays on-screen brother Erik, in the Netflix series.
Earlier this month, RadarOnline.com revealed a reporter who covered the brothers' murder trial insisted they killed their parents, José and Kitty, in cold blood and deserved to be behind bars for the rest of their lives.
Alan Abrahamson, now a journalism professor at the University of Southern California, covered the televised trial in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times.
At the brothers' first trial, they were tried separately, resulting in two hung juries.
During their second trial, they were tried together and a jury found them guilty of murdering their parents. The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The journalist said: "My take is... uh.. pretty direct and pretty simple, the brothers are stone cold killers and they deserve to be in prison for the rest of their lives."
He explained even if the brothers were being abused by their father, their lives were not in "imminent" danger when they ambushed their parents in their Beverly Hills home, firing multiple fatal gunshots at close range.
Abrahamson added: "The parents were sitting in there in the den watching TV. There was no fear whatsoever."
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