“Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” may have set a record for worldwide viewing in its first week on Netflix, but the limited series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan has also stirred up several controversies. On Sept. 30, a report from The Los Angeles Times explored the claims of “Dahmer” production assistant Kim Alsup, who alleges she was “treated horribly” on the set, where she claims she was one of only two Black crew members. POPSUGAR reached out to Netflix for a comment on Alsup’s allegations of racism on the set but did not receive an immediate response.
Before sharing her story with the LA Times, Alsup tweeted about her experience on Sept. 18 alongside the show’s trailer. “I worked on this project and I was 1 of 2 Black people on the crew and they kept calling me her name,” she tweeted. “We both had braids, she was dark skin and 5’10. I’m 5’5. Working on this took everything I had as I was treated horribly. I look at the Black female lead differently now too.”
Alsup recently shared more details about her experience on set in her interview with the publication. “It was one of the worst shows that I’ve ever worked on,” the production assistant claimed. “I was always being called someone else’s name, the only other Black girl who looked nothing like me, and I learned the names for 300 background extras.”
She added that she has been unable to bring herself to watch the series since its release. “I just feel like it’s going to bring back too many memories of working on it,” she said. “I don’t want to have these PTSD types of situations. The trailer itself gave me PTSD, which is why I ended up writing that tweet and I didn’t think that anybody was going to read.”
Alsup isn’t the only person who has spoken out about the Netflix series. Shortly after the show’s premiere, families of the people murdered by Jeffrey Dahmer made statements about the sensational nature of “Dahmer.” They also claimed Netflix did not reach out to the victim’s families prior to making the show.
Eric Perry, who is a relative of one of Dahmer’s victims, Errol Lindsey, criticised Netflix for making a series that could retraumatise those who were affected by the serial killer’s crimes on Twitter. “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 p*ssed about this show,” he tweeted. “It’s retraumatising over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”
