Ryan Murphy objects to Netflix removing LGBTQ tag from Jeffrey Dahmer series following backlash
Ryan Murphy has said he disagrees with Netflix’s decision to remove the LGBTQ tag from his Jeffrey Dahmer show.
Since its release in September, Murphy’s true crime series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has been embroiled in controversy surrounding its graphic and “exploitative” content.
In it, Evan Peters stars as the serial killer and cannibal, who murdered 17 men and boys between the years 1978 and 1991.
A week after its release, Netflix removed a tag categorising the series as LGBTQ following an online backlash.
It was speculated that the reason the series was initially marked with the label was because many of Dahmer’s victims were LGBTQ, or because of the killer’s own sexuality. The reasons remain unconfirmed by Netflix.
Streamers tend to use the tag to highlight positive representatiions of LGBTQ people, and so many people took issue with it being used to promote Dahmer.
Speaking in a New York Times interview, Murphy said he objected to Netflix removing the tag.
Murphy said he asked Netflix why they removed the tag and says he was told that “people were upset because it was an upsetting story”.
He said that was his point, stating: “It was a story of a gay man and, more importantly, his gay victims.”
Family members of Dahmer’s victims – including the mother of Tony Hughes and a cousin of Errol Lindsey, who were among more than a dozen men killed – condemned the show.
Murphy has since claimed that he attempted to contact “20 of the families of Dahmer’s victims” and “not a single person responded to us in that process”.
It was recently revealed that American Horror Story star Peters, who plays Dahmer, dressed like the killer for months before starting filming on the series.
The true-crime series was watched for 196.2 million hours in its first week, making Dahmer the platform’s most watched new show ever in its first week.
Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between the years 1978 and 1991. He was arrested in 1991 and was murdered in prison three years later.
