Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer.Photo: Courtesy Of Netflix
The former attorney representing relatives of some victims of serial killerJeffrey Dahmeris slamming the fact that the Netflix series got 13 Emmy nominations, saying the honors glorify the murderer and further traumatizing families of victims.
“Awarding Emmys to shows like the Jeffrey Dahmer series contributes to glamorizing or desensitizing violence and crime in society,” Thomas M. Jacobson said in a statement to PEOPLE.
On Wednesday, the Netflix seriesMonster:TheJeffreyDahmerStory, earned 13 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie forEvan Peters, who played Dahmer; Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie for Richard Jenkins; and a supporting actress nod forNiecy Nash-Betts. The show was also nominated forbest Outstanding Limited Series.
Jacobson, now retired, was the Milwaukee, Wisc., attorney for eight of the Dahmer victims' families in the 1990s, filing lawsuits to prevent Dahmer or his estate from benefiting from the killings. Dahmer raped, murdered and dismembered at least 17 men and boys in Milwaukee between 1978 and 1991, engaging in cannibalism and necrophilia with some.
“The 13 Emmy Nominations and continued pomp and circumstance surrounding the Dahmer series glorify and romanticizes the monster’s actions and motivations resulting in further trauma for the victims' families,” he said.
Murphy has disputed the accusation that the production team did not try to contact the families.He said they reached outto 20 family members and friends but no one responded.Some relatives have taken issue with the series.
Shirley Hughes, the mother of Dahmer victim Tony Hughes, toldThe Guardianlast year that the show’s depiction of her son’s death and its aftermath “didn’t happen” how it is shown on screen.
Eric Perry, a cousin of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey, tweeted in 2022 that the series was"retraumatizing" his familyand that they had not been notified about the project, writing, “My family found out when everyone else did.”
Lindsey’s daughter, Tatiana Banks, who was born six months after her father’s murder, said the showtriggered nightmares for her.
“Honestly ever since that show’s been on I haven’t been able to sleep,” she toldInsiderin 2022.
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Lindsey’s sister, Rita Isbell,also told Insiderlast year the portrayal of her in the streaming series “bothered me,” and “brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then.”
Jacobson said “cloning” Isbell in the production and awarding actors for their performances “could be seen as a form of sensationalism exploiting the suffering of victims and their families for entertainment.”
Jacobson, who in 1996 got about $420,000 for 11 of the families from a Milwaukee civic group who bought items at Dahmer’s estate sale in order to destroy them, according toThe New York Times, has not been in touch with his former clients since then, he said.
But he still has deep feelings about the issue.
“I still feel strongly that the victims of violent crime, they get exploited,” he tells PEOPLE. “All the emphasis is on the murderer and no one cares about the victims.”
A representative for the Netflix series did not respond to a request for comment.
source: people.com
