In a portrait of the New York Times, where he talks about his two consecutive successes, Dahmer and The Watcher, Ryan Murphy protests against the fact that Netflix has removed its LGBTQ tag on the first.
Ryan Murphy discussed his two big hits for Netflix in a profile published in The New York Times. And the author has responded to certain criticisms of Dahmer, whom he vehemently defends.
The miniseries about cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer has become the biggest hit of Murphy’s prolific career, racking up millions of hours-watched week-to-week since its September 21 release. It was even close to surpassing one billion hours watched over Halloween weekend, according to Murphy.
It was then nearly overtaken by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s other mini-series, The Watcher, a true-story thriller starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, released on October 13.
But as we previously told you, Dahmer also drew backlash from the families of the victims, some of whom accused Netflix and the production of never contacting them. The series has been criticized for exploiting trauma by focusing on Dahmer’s horrifying behavior.
Netflix © 2022 Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer
Ryan Murphy has previously stated that he and his team have contacted more than 20 families and friends of the victims during their three and a half years of research and that “not a single person answered us in this process“.
In the New York Times article, Ryan Murphy states that he tackled Dahmer’s story in order to shed light on the racism and homophobia that lie at the heart of the case, because “this was the biggest case i have ever seen that really examines how easy it is to get away with aspects of white privilege“. And to add:
What are the rules now? Shouldn’t we ever make a movie about a tyrant?
He also disagrees with Netflix’s decision to drop his LGBTQ tag from the show after some viewers complained.
“I don’t think all gay stories have to be happy stories either.“, he said. “There was a time on Netflix where they removed Dahmer’s LGBTQ tag, and I didn’t like it. I asked why they did it, and they said because people were upset, because it was an upsetting story. I replied: ‘Yes, but it was the story of a gay man and, above all, of his gay victims’“.
He quotes the sixth episode which is about Tony Hughes, victim of Dahmer, who is a black and deaf man, of whom he is most proud: “There’s a five-minute scene where we see three deaf gay men in a pizzeria, talking in sign language about dating, gay life, and the struggles they face. I couldn’t believe I had the chance to get this on TV.Nevertheless, Shirley Hughes, Tony Hughes’ mother, said the series dramatizes her son’s story.
In the article, Murphy makes no mention of his plans for the end of his contract with the streaming giant, in five months. Will he stay at Netflix, where he has already achieved the second biggest success in the history of the platform with Dahmer, or will he return to FX and its parent company Disney? We will have to wait a little longer to find out.