A crew member on Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has opened up about the poor working conditions she experienced during filming the Netflix show. Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer has been the subject of public fascination since his arrest in 1991, when it was discovered that he had killed, dismembered, violated, and eaten at least 17 men and boys since 1978. Created by Ryan Murphy and starring American Horror Story actor Evan Peters, Dahmer, which premiered this past September on Netflix, is the latest dramatization of Dahmer's life and crimes, who has previously been portrayed in media by Ross Lynch and Jeremy Renner.
Due to the many explorations of the killer's life in the past, Dahmer, a hit for Netflix, has been slammed by some viewers for being redundant and therefore exploitative of the murders. The series has also run into backlash due to its original tagging on Netflix as "LGBTQ+" viewing, its re-traumatizing effects on a relative of one of Dahmer's victims, who had to see her testimony at Dahmer's trial recreated on-screen, and its twisting of historical facts according to an original reporter on the case. Another controversial moment for the series came when crew member Kim Alsup posted a tweet in reply to the first trailer for show, saying "working on this too everything I had as I was treated horribly."
In an interview with the LA Times, Alsup elaborated further about working on Dahmer's crew, referring to her experience being called the name of the only other Black crew member despite looking nothing like her co-worker. According to Alsup, the time she spent on Dahmer was traumatizing to the point that watching the trailer for the show "gave [her] PTSD." See what she had to say below:
“I just feel like it’s going to bring back too many memories of working on it. 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. [Dahmer] was one of the worst shows that I’ve ever worked on. 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.”
What Dahmer's Success Means For Netflix
In a series that was supposedly created to spotlight the systemic racism that allowed Dahmer to remain at large for so many years, it's disappointing that, according to Alsup, Dahmer was far from inclusive behind the scenes. Alsup's account of the working conditions she was subject to highlights an inherent hypocrisy in the series and, by extension, Netflix. Despite Alsup's story and the many other instances of backlash, Dahmer has been enormously popular on Netflix, becoming their fifth most-watched premiere in history. Due to the series' marked success, it's unfortunately unlikely that Netflix will change the way they approach true crime material or make inquiries about Alsup's treatment on the crew. However, if Alsup's story continues to be shared, it's possible that Netflix will take heed.
Netflix's enormous success as a streaming service despite many controversies over the years has much to do with the way they operate. Because Netflix offers filmmakers plenty of creative freedom on their projects, the culture created on set as well as the content of their series and films is often the product of the individual creators involved with the projects, with Netflix simply serving as the vessel for content. However, executive decisions like choosing to develop Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in the first place, or scrapping Grendel before even airing the completed season, still lie with Netflix, so it remains to be seen whether the streaming service will face a reckoning for these criticisms.
Source: LA Times