Dahmer: Relative of Jeffrey Dahmer victim slams Netflix for "retraumatising" their family

23 September 2022, 15:55

Evan Peters opens up about playing Jeffrey Dahmer

By Sam Prance

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is being called out by Errol Lindsey's family for being made without their consent.

CONTENT WARNING: This article contains details of extreme violence and sexual assault that some readers may find triggering and disturbing.

A relative of Errol Lindsey is slamming Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story for "retraumatising" the victim's families.

This week (Sep 21), Netflix and Ryan Murphy released a new series exploring the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The show is told from the perspective of his victims and it stars Evan Peters as Dahmer. In 1992, Dahmer was found guilty of killing 16 people who were predominately Black gay men. He also committed necrophilia and cannibalism with their dead bodies.

Now, one of the victim's relatives is calling out Dahmer and criticising the team for making it without their family's consent.

READ MORE: Where is Tracy Edwards now? Jeffrey Dahmer survivor's real life story revealed

In 1991, Dahmer murdered a 19-year-old man called Errol Lindsey after luring him to his apartment and drugging him. During his court trial in 1992, Lindsey's sister Rita Isbell gave an impassioned speech against Dahmer. Shortly after Dahmer came out, a clip went viral on Twitter in which someone compares Isbell's court testimony to how it's portrayed in the show.

Yesterday, Isbell's cousin, Eric Thulhu, slammed the drama. He tweeted: "I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?"

He added: "Like recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is WILD. WIIIIIILD."

The tweet quickly went viral with people calling out Netflix and Ryan Murphy for not considering how the show would impact the victims' families. One person tweeted: "So netflix dont even ask permission to the family ??? Thats sick". Another then added: "It's immensely dehumanizing and you and your family have every right to feel the way you do."

Someone else also tweeted: "as someone who has interest in “true crime”, this is despicable. movies/docs should never be made about real life killers/victims unless they have explicit permission from the victims families and those families give permission to everything that’s included. and one is enough."

Noticing the response to his original tweet, Eric added: "Ok, I did not expect that tweet to get this much attention. To answer the main question, no, they don’t notify families when they do this. It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did."

He continued: "So when they say they’re doing this “with respect to the victims” or “honoring the dignity of the families”, no one contacts them. My cousins wake up every few months at this point with a bunch of calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show. It’s cruel."

As it stands, Netflix and Ryan Murphy are yet to address the backlash to the show. We shall update you if they do.

Read more about Netflix's DAHMER here:

• Jeffrey Dahmer's grandmother: The horrifying true story in Netflix's DAHMER
• Evan Peters says Jeffrey Dahmer is the hardest role he's ever had to play
• Evan Peters explains the one rule Ryan Murphy put in place on Netflix Dahmer series

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