Photo: Netflix / Twitter
"It didn't happen like that."
By Nia Tipton — Written on Oct 13, 2022
A relative of one of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims is speaking out against the new Netflix series, "Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story."
The mother of Tony Hughes, who was killed by Dahmer in 1991, condemned Ryan Murphy's biographical series, "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," which focuses on Dahmer's childhood, and his subsequent murder spree.
Shirley Hughes blasted Netfilx for its inaccurate portrayal of her son Tony Hughes in the show.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Hughes, 85, said that the show's episode "Silenced," which focuses on Tony's story and how he met Dahmer in a bar, didn't properly depict her son's death and its aftermath.
Hughes told the publication that it "didn't happen" the way that it was shown on screen.
"I don't see how they can do that," she said. "I don't see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there."
Tony, who was deaf and mute, met Dahmer at a gay bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 24, 1991, according to the Associated Press.
After the two met, Dahmer then took Tony home, drugged him, dismembered his body, and reportedly kept his skull.
In the show, after Dahmer, who is played by Evan Peters, murdered Tony, played by Rodney Burford, he was then seen donating money to aid in the search to find him, before the scene cuts to Dahmer cooking and eating Tony's liver.
According to the AP, Shirley Hughes attended every single day of Dahmer's 1992 trial.
During the coverage of the trial, a Pentecostal minister named Elder Durain Hughes told the news outlet that the murder "literally tore her to pieces."
"I've never seen anybody so emotionally and spiritually wounded as Miss Hughes," he said. "She's come a long ways. Now she has a perpetual desire to help other grieving families."
Hughes has not been the only family member of Dahmer's victims to speak up about the controversial series.
Last month, Eric Perry, the cousin of victim Errol Lindsey, tweeted that the Netflix drama is "retraumatizing" his family.
"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 Isbells) are pissed about this show," he wrote on Twitter.
Perry also drew attention to the real-life Rita Isbell, Lindsey's sister, who tried to rush Dahmer in court to the Netflix interpretation of the scene.
"Recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is WILD," Perry continued.
Isbell also shared her thoughts about the show in a first-person essay for Insider, writing about the moment she had given her victim impact statement in 1992.
"When I saw some of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself — when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said," Isbell wrote.
She concluded, sharing that she had no involvement in the making of the series, or her brother's story being told.
"I was never contacted about the show. 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."
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.