Shirley Hughes, the mother of Jeffrey Dahmer victim Anthony “Tony” Hughes, has joined the growing number of voices speaking out against Netflix’s controversial new limited series, Dahmer: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. In a new interview with The Guardian, Hughes condemned the Netflix original series, which has become the streamer’s second-most popular English-language series of all time and which commits a full episode of its 10-episode story to her son.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, Dahmer follows the story of the convicted serial killer, largely through the viewpoint of his victims, many of whom were Black, gay men, and uncovers the unfathomable crimes he committed, how police were slow to act, and the impact it left on America and those close to each victim. Episode 6, “Silenced,” is dedicated to Tony, an aspiring model who was of Dahmer’s 17 known victims. In the Netflix docuseries, Tony, portrayed by Rodney Burford, had a brief but close relationship with Evan Peters’ Dahmer after having met in a club before Dahmer tragically murdered him and cook and ate his liver. He is later shown donating money to the search effort for Hughes. However, according to Hughes, the depiction of her son’s death and its aftermath “didn’t happen” how it is shown on screen.
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“I don’t see how they can do that,” the 85-year-old told the outlet. “I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there.”
Tony, who became deaf in early childhood, per the Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies, and was also mute, met Dahmer at a Milwaukee gay bar on May 24, 1991, according to the Associated Press. Dahmer picked him up and took him back to his apartment, where he drugged him before dismembering his body. Hughes was just 31, with his murder taking place just two days before Dahmer killed 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, who managed to escape from Dahmer and seek help before ultimately being ushered back into the apartment with Dahmer by police.
Hughes reportedly attended every day of Dahmer’s 1992 trial. She previously told United Press International, “it hurts. shed tears. They’re not tears of sorrow, and it’s not disbelief in the Lord. The tears [are] tears of hurt because it hurts. It hurts real bad. But you have to trust and pray and just keep going day by day.”
Hughes is just the latest relative of one of Dahmer’s victims to speak out against the show, with Rita Isbell the sister of Errol Lindsey, writing for Insider that her family was not approached by Netflix about the series. She wrote, “Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it,” adding that “it’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”
