A mother of one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims is speaking out following the release of Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” Dahmer is played by Evan Peters in the series.
Shirley Hughes, the mother of Anthony Hughes, spoke to the Guardian briefly on Monday and said the way the show portrayed her son’s death and the aftermath “didn’t happen.”
“I don’t see how they can do that,” Hughes, 85, shared with the outlet. “I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there.”
The outlet noted that Hughes said it was difficult to talk about her son’s murder and politely hung up the phone.
The infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, is played by Evan Peters, left, in the Netflix Series “Monster.”
(Getty/Netflix)
Netflix did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Anthony Hughes, who was deaf and could not speak, went dancing at a Milwaukee gay bar on May 24, 1991.
Dahmer picked him up, took him home, drugged him, dismembered his body and kept his skull. He was 31 years old.
Shirley attended every day of Dahmer’s trial in 1992.
In 1992, Elder Durain Hughes, a Pentecostal minister, spoke to the Associated Press about how the death of Anthony affected Shirley.
Jeffrey Dahmer enters the courtroom circa August 1991.
(Eugene Garcia/AFP via Getty Images)
?It just literally tore her to pieces,? he said at the time. “She’s come a long ways. Now she has a perpetual desire to help other grieving families.”
Shirley is not the only family member related to Dahmer’s victims to share their opinion on the hit Netflix show. Eric Perry, a cousin of Errol Lindsey, took to Twitter in September and deemed the show “retraumatizing” to the victim’s families.
After Netflix faced backlash surrounding the show, the last journalist to interview the infamous serial killer pushed back against critics who claim Netflix’s new series on the killer “romanticizes” his horrific acts.
Family members of the victims of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer talk to the press outside the courtroom where Dahmer’s trial was taking place.
(Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS)
Journalist Nancy Glass joined “America’s Newsroom” to discuss scrutiny surrounding the new series, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” and her sit-down interview with the convicted serial killer in 1993.
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“No, I don’t,” Glass told co-host Bill Hemmer when asked if the series romanticizes the twisted tragedies. “I think that what they do is sort of satisfy our curiosity about how could something like this really happen. Everybody wants to know … how could it happen? Could I spot this? How do I avoid this?”
“I know that that may seem bizarre, but I think it’s more about morbid curiosity than romanticism,” she continued.
Jeffrey Dahmer mugshot in August 1982.
(Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images)
Netflix has also faced criticism from the family members of Dahmer’s victims, with some arguing the platform should have reached out to them beforehand about the series.
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“No matter what, it isn’t a good feeling for the family members, but it wasn’t a documentary, it’s a work of fiction,” Glass said. “For example, this idea that neighbors called all the time, they didn’t. That was not true.”
“This is … a miniseries by a producer and writer who do really great programming, and that’s what they did here,” she continued. “They sort of combined a lot of different things that happen.”
Fox News’ Bailee Hill and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
