Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer series hasn’t stopped making headlines since its release on Wednesday, but while some viewers found the drama too difficult to watch, others have taken issue with the way the streaming service has categorised it.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story details the the murderers killing spree between 1978 and 1991 when he killed at least 17 men, most young, gay African Americans who he lured back to his home by promising to pay them to pose nude for photographs. He then drugged and strangled them and generally mutilated and occasionally cannibalised their bodies.
Dahmer was convicted of murdering 15 men and boys and sentenced to serve 15 consecutive life sentences in February 1997. Two years after being jailed Dahmer, then 34, was killed by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver.
While much of the initial attention centred around how gripping and difficult the series is to watch, viewers have since noticed that Netflix has given the series, that sees Evan Peters play the leading role, an LGBTQ tag.
@lizthelezbo♬ original sound – liz
Dahmer’s 13-year crime spree has been explored in many documentaries, films, books, and news articles in the past, but the focus has never been on the fact many of his victims were LGBTQ+ POC, something Netflix’s dramatisation hoped to finally address.
Rashad Robinson, consulting producer of the show and president of Colour Of Change, said earlier this month that the show aims to tell the story of the victims and the impact that Dahmer and local leaders’ compliance had on their communities.
https://twitter.com/ryanmurphyprod/status/1572236048465559556
That’s perhaps one reason Netflix tagged the series LGBTQ, but that either didn’t occur, or didn’t matter to some viewers who thought it was inappropriate.
TikTok user Liz, who posted the clip above, said: “This is not the representation we’re looking for.”
Another TikToker named Jamaili said she was “livid” and “flabbergasted” that the show could be tagged as both ‘horror’ and ‘LGBTQ’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHHs-xllqo&feature=emb_imp_woyt
She said: “I feel like horror implies a certain level of fiction and whimsy that is entirely non-existent and inappropriate for this situation.”
On the LGBTQ tag, she said it “associates us with a literal serial unaliver, cannibal, amongst other things I’m not sure I can say on this app.”
“Jeffrey Dahmer is not the queer representation that we want, asked for, need – nothing.”
People were just as unhappy about the classification on Twitter.
Guys my favourite LGBTQ series on Netflix is: Rupaul’s Drag Race, Dahmer, and Queer Eye 😁😁 https://t.co/tceaOkBVVQ
— ༄angel☆〜 (@05shrimp) September 22, 2022
If I need to stay in my lane absolutely tell me but anyone else think it's pretty gross of @netflix to list Dahmer under #LGBTQ, especially when the True Crime tag would have worked? pic.twitter.com/wPzwc2oOKP
— Frances *Deadly SoverAuntie* Danger (@FrancesMFDanger) September 21, 2022
Hey hi @netflix I IMPLORE you please reconsider having Dahmer with the LGBTQ tag, especially as one of its tags right when you open the app 😭 pic.twitter.com/sxVhVTlPwG
— Pantastically (@Sinuzaki) September 22, 2022
Not everyone was angry about the classification though, with some pointing out how the show does explore LGBTQ+ injustices at the time of the murders.
“You’ve got to take the bad along with the good,” wrote one, while another said: “The Dahmer case is a huge part of LGBTQ history, it’s important people know he got away with so much.”
Related links:
- People urged not to ‘romanticise’ Jeffrey Dahmer just because he’s played by Evan Peters in Netflix series
- Netflix viewers warned over new Jeffrey Dahmer series after some unable to make it through first episode
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