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  • 2 days ago
Rita Isbell, who is portrayed in 'Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,' writes in an Insider essay: "It's sad that they're just making money off of this tragedy."
Transcript
00:00I'll just try and say I'm sorry.
00:02She gonna open your gift?
00:10A family member of one of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims
00:13who is portrayed in the new Netflix series
00:15about the serial killer is speaking out.
00:17In the limited series titled
00:18Dahmer Monster, The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,
00:21Rita Isbell is seen giving a victim impact statement
00:23during Dahmer's 1992 sentencing
00:25when the killer was given 15 consecutive life sentences.
00:29Dahmer murdered Isbell's brother, Errol Lindsay,
00:31when he was 19 years old.
00:33Now the real Isbell is addressing
00:34how the show recreated the emotional moment,
00:37saying she wasn't contacted by Netflix
00:39and criticizing how the streaming giant
00:41is profiting off the tragic story.
00:43She wrote in an essay for Insider,
00:45when I saw some of the show, it bothered me,
00:47especially when I saw myself,
00:49when I saw my name come across the screen
00:51and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said.
00:54Isbell said it, quote,
00:55felt like reliving it all over again
00:57and brought back all the emotions
00:58I was feeling back then.
01:00She went on to say,
01:01I feel like Netflix should have asked
01:03if we mind or how we felt about making it.
01:05They didn't ask me anything.
01:07They just did it.
01:07It's sad that they're just making money
01:09off of this tragedy.
01:10That's just greed.
01:11Netflix and Ryan Murphy Productions declined to comment.
01:14Meanwhile, Eric Perry,
01:15who identified himself as a cousin of Lindsay,
01:17wrote on Twitter,
01:18I'm not telling anyone what to watch.
01:20I know true crime media is huge right now.
01:22But if you're actually curious about the victims,
01:25my family, the Isbells, are pissed about this show.
01:28It's re-traumatizing over and over again.
01:30And for what?
01:31How many movies, shows, documentaries do we need?
01:34After his post received replies,
01:36he followed up to say that because the sentencing
01:38is public record, the family was not notified.
01:40While the ethics of retelling true crime stories
01:43without input from victims' families can be debated,
01:45it's true that there is generally no legal obligation
01:48to contact them.
01:49For much more on this story, go to THR.com.
01:52This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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