Mother of Jeffrey Dahmer victim Tony Hughes condemns Evan Peters’ Golden Globes win
Evan Peters won ‘Best Actor in a Limited Series’ for his portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer at the Golden Globes. (Getty/Matt Winkelmeyer)
The mother of Jeffrey Dahmer victim Tony Hughes has spoken out against Evan Peters’ Golden Globes win.
Peters won the Best Actor in a Limited Series award at the Golden Globes for his portrayal of the notorious serial killer in Netflix’s hit series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
Shirley Hughes, who has previously condemned the Netflix drama for glorifying the murders, has said Peter’s win “keeps the obsession” with Dahmer’s crimes going.
Speaking to TMZ, Hughes said: “It’s a shame that people can take our tragedy and make money. The victims never saw a cent. We go through these emotions every day.”
“There’s a lot of sick people around the world,” she added. “And people winning acting roles from playing killers keeps the obsession going and this makes sick people thrive on the fame.”
Tony Hughes, Shirley’s son, was a 31-year-old deaf, non-vocal gay man who communicated through lip-reading, written notes and sign language.
The story of Tony’s life and tragic murder was the focus of Dahmer’s sixth episode “Silenced”, which viewers unanimously declared the “most heart-wrenching” part of the whole series.
Evan Peters used his Golden Globes acceptance speech to thank his friends, family, the show’s creator Ryan Murphy for his “brilliant vision”, and everyone who watched the series.
“I want to thank everyone who watched this show,” he said. “It was a difficult one to make, a difficult one to watch. But I sincerely hope some good came out of it.”
Hughes criticised the actor for failing to mention the victims of Dahmer’s heinous crimes in his speech.
“Evan should have used his acceptance speech to mention the families who are still suffering from Dahmer’s crimes, or to say Hollywood should put an end to telling stories about killers and glorifying them,” she said.
Dahmer has caused ample controversy since it landed on Netflix back in September 2022, with the families of his victims saying that the show has “retraumatised” them.
The show tells the story of the Milwaukee serial killer’s crimes and the aftermath — between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer is known to have killed 17 young men and boys.
Dahmer was sentenced to 16 life sentences in 1992, but was murdered by a fellow inmate just two years into his sentence.
Since its release, Dahmer has become Netflix’s second most-watched English language series of all time.
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