‘It’s Ugly. It’s Not Pretty’: ‘Dahmer’ Series Creator Says He Disagrees LGBTQ Series/Movies Should Be About Uplifting Themes
“Dahmer” series creator Ryan Murphy said he disagreed with the idea that LGBTQ series/movies should be about uplifting topics in response to a backlash over his initial inclusion of the L.G.B.T.Q. tag on his show.
Murphy, who created the hit Netflix series about serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, told Variety he understood why people weren’t happy when the platform first used it, but said as a gay man he doesn’t agree with them. Following the backlash, Netflix removed the LGBTQ tag from “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” because “people were upset.”
“Many people in the community want to uplift,” Murphy explained. “I understand that. It’s [Netflix series] about homophobia.”
In a rare interview and photo shoot for @Variety‘s SAG Contenders issue, Ryan Murphy & Evan Peters discuss #DahmerNetflix‘s incredible success, the length process and all the backlash that followed.
Full story + photos by @dandoperalski: https://t.co/ltZIRDeAPp
— Emily Longeretta (@emilylongeretta) December 12, 2022
“I have a saying: ‘My job as an artist is to hold up a mirror about what happened,’” he added. “It’s ugly. It’s not pretty. Do you want to look at it? If you do, watch it. If you don’t, look away, and sometimes, some of this outrage is directed at the frame of the mirror instead of the reflection.”
“I try and say, I really understand why you’re upset about the inclusion of that,” Murphy continued. “I understand it, but I also disagree with it personally.”
At one point, the series creator said he thought the tag was included because of his involvement as a gay man.
“I think that it got the tag, one, because of my involvement,” Murphy shared. “I’m a gay man, so most of my stories deal with some sort of LGBTQ thing and I do that selfishly; when I was growing up, I had nothing [to look to]. My mission statement has been to talk about those stories and those characters and unearth buried history.”
Murphy previously responded to reports that the show was “exploiting” trauma suffered by the “victims’ families,” as The Daily Wire reported.
The series creator said he wanted to tell the story in part to shed light on the racism and homophobia in the case that he believed were pervasive. The prosecutor who secured Dahmer’s conviction, former Milwaukee County District Attorney Michael McCann, has disputed this claim.
The series focuses on serial killer, Dahmer, played by actor Evan Peters. Dahmer murdered 17 people from the 70s until the early 90s, as previously reported.
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