Kim Kardashian and "Monsters" actor Cooper Koch visit Menendez brothers in jail

Kardashian stopped by San Diego's Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility to discuss prison reform

By Gabriella Ferrigine

Staff Writer

Published September 23, 2024 11:09AM (EDT)

Kim Kardashian at Kering's 3rd Annual Caring For Women Dinner held at The Pool on September 9, 2024 in New York City. (Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty Images)
Kim Kardashian at Kering's 3rd Annual Caring For Women Dinner held at The Pool on September 9, 2024 in New York City. (Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty Images)

Kim Kardashian took to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego over the weekend to speak about prison reform to a group of incarcerated people, including brothers and convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez.

Accompanying Kardashian was actor Cooper Koch, who portrays Erik in Ryan Murphy's recently released "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," a dramatic recounting of the brothers' 1989 murder of their parents.

Kardashian, who previously starred in Murphy's "American Horror Story: Delicate," has consistently spoken about prison reform and rehabilitation, even visiting the White House in 2018 to discuss the topic with former president Donald Trump.

"Monsters" sparked outrage amongst many viewers after its debut for an incestuous subplot. Before Kardashian's visit, Erik criticized the series in a statement shared by his wife Tammi Menendez on X/Twitter on Thursday. “It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women,” Erik’s statement read. “Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.”

“Is the truth not enough?” the post continued. “How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.”

During the brother's 1993 trial, they alleged that their father had sexually and physically abused them. They were ultimately convicted of fatally shooting their parents.