Netflix has taken an “LGBTQ” tag off of its true-crime series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story after an outcry from viewers.
The tag was one of several categories initially used to categorize the limited series about the serial killer from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, along with labels like “dark,” “horror” and “vintage crime.” Viewers noticed and raised objections online: “Anyone else think it’s pretty gross of Netflix to list Dahmer under LGBTQ, especially when the True Crime tag would have worked?” read one representative tweet.
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A well viewed TikTok video expressed a similar sentiment, noting that the show is “not the representation we’re looking for.” Netflix subsequently removed the category tag.
The Hollywood Reporter has asked Netflix for comment.
Dahmer was gay, as were a number of his victims, but Netflix typically uses the LGBTQ tag for titles that reflect more rounded experiences in the LGBTQ community, among them Uncoupled, Sex Education and Heartstopper. As of Wednesday afternoon, Monster was listed under “crime,” “ominous,” “psychological” and “horror.”
The series has also been criticized by a survivor of one of the victims. In an essay for Insider, Rita Isbell — the sister of Errol Lindsey, whom Dahmer murdered in 1991 — wrote that “it bothered me” to see her victim impact statement from the killer’s 1992 trial dramatized in the show.
“I could even understand it if they gave some of the money to the victims’ children.… The victims have children and grandchildren,” Isbell wrote. “If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless. It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”
Dahmer – Monster was Netflix’s most popular series for the week of Sept. 19-25 (it debuted Sept. 21). The streamer said its subscribers worldwide spent more than 196 million hours watching the show during its premiere week.
