Photo: Netflix
Netflix's new Jeffrey Dahmer series is taking some serious heat.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Sep 28, 2022
After Errol Lindsey's sister was portrayed in Netflix's “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” the real woman behind the devastating courtroom outburst is slamming the streaming platform.
“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” has quickly become one of the streaming platform’s most popular shows as audiences react to the grotesque story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and the investigation into his killing spree.
However, not everyone has fallen for the alluring pull of a “true crime” TV series as critics of the series bash how exploitative it is and people involved in Dahmer's crimes are slamming Netflix as well.
Errol Lindsey's sister says Netflix was “money hungry” for making the series.
In 1991, 19-year-old Errol Lindsey was murdered after being lured by Dahmer to his apartment where he was then drugged.
Errol Lindsey's sister famously confronted Jeffrey Dahmer in court, resulting in a heartbreaking outburst.
His sister, Rita Isbell, gave a victim impact statement at one of Dahmer’s hearings — a scene which was recreated in the series. She broke down and nearly attacked the man who tortured and killed her brother.
During an interview with Insider, Isbell claims that she was never contacted by Netflix and didn’t even know that the series was coming out — nor that her courtroom appearance would make it into the cut.
“I was never contacted about the show,” she said. “I feel like Netflix should've asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn't ask me anything. They just did it. But I'm not money hungry, and that's what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid.”
She went on to talk about the exploitative nature behind even making a show like this — a show about an incident where so many people went through inexplicable trauma.
“I could even understand it if they gave some of the money to the victims' children … the victims have children and grandchildren,” she continued.
“If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn't feel so harsh and careless. It's sad that they're just making money off of this tragedy. That's just greed.”
Others in her family also expressed their disgust with the new series, labeling it as “retraumatizing” and begging the question “for what?”
Isbell claims that she only watched the episode where her scene was recreated and that she didn’t watch the rest because “I don't need to watch it. I lived it. I know exactly what happened.”
Another person who was closely involved in the Dahmer case spoke up about Netflix’s account of the story, claiming that not everything is being portrayed correctly either.
Former Milwaukee district attorney Michael McCann claims that law enforcement held no racial or gay bias.
The D.A. who personally put Dahmer behind bars in the 90s, Michael McCann, spoke out about how the Netflix series has falsely portrayed the way law enforcement investigated the serial killer’s murders.
In a conversation with TMZ, McCann claims “the notion that MPD officers turned a blind eye to Dahmer's victims because of their race or sexual orientation is ludicrous, despite what ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ portrays.”
As the show increases in popularity, it grows increasingly difficult to not hear about it, and although he hasn’t seen the series yet, he understands the way that Netflix is telling the story.
He feels as though they’re taking a very “anti-cop” approach and that they’re leaning too far into a “perceived racial and homophobic bias.”
McCann claims that neither race nor sexual orientation influenced how police investigated Dahmer, and had they known that there was a serial killer in their midst, they would have done whatever they could to stop it regardless of the victims’ backgrounds.
In fact, he believes that all of the victims being men was more puzzling to law enforcement than anything else.
McCann says that when women went missing back then, they always assumed the worst, but men who disappeared were often investigated differently.
As more people who were actually involved in the case speak out, Netflix’s new series comes off as nothing more than a true crime cash grab.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Since graduating from Rutgers University, he spends most of his free time gaming or playing Quadball. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.