The mother of one of notorious serial killer Jefferey Dahmer’s victims has expressed outrage after the Netflix series took home a Golden Globe award this week.
On Tuesday, actor Evan Peters won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer, who gruesomely murdered and dismembered as many as 17 men and boys (most of whom were black) between the late-70s and early-90s. Speaking to TMZ, Shirley Hughes, mother of Dahmer victim Tony Hughes, expressed outrage over awards being handed out for the portrayal of real serial killers.
“There’s a lot of sick people around the world,” Hughes told TMZ. “People winning acting roles from playing killers keeps the obsession going and this makes sick people thrive on the fame.”
Shirley Hughes also expressed outrage over the fact that actor Evan Peters paid no tribute to the Dahmer’s victims and their families during his acceptance speech on Tuesday, telling the audience only that he “sincerely hope[s] some good came out of” the Netflix series.
“It’s a shame that people can take our tragedy and make money. The victims never saw a cent. We go through these emotions every day,” Hughes said.
The Netflix series has been a lightning rod for controversy since day one, sparking arguments on whether the Ryan Murphy-helmed series exploits Dahmer’s gruesome murders or tastefully explores the mind of an unflinching monster. In September of last year, a new controversy erupted when LGBTQ+ viewers noticed that Netflix had used their alphabet moniker to tag the film. Since Jeffrey Dahmer almost exclusively had sex with men and picked up most of his victims from gay nightclubs, the label appeared to have some merit, but viewers disagreed, charging that Netflix perpetuated harmful stereotypes. In response to the backlash, Netflix eventually removed the LGBTQ label.
Another family member of one of Dahmer’s victims also criticized the show upon its release, saying it retraumatized them. Eric Perry, the cousin of Rita Isbell, who famously raged at Dahmer in the courtroom upon his sentencing for the murder of her brother, said his family was downright “pissed” about the show.
“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 Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” he tweeted at the time.
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