Rosie O’Donnell Speaks Out After Menendez Brothers Parole Decisions
Rosie O’Donnell issued a bold response to the Menendez brothers’ parole decisions in the wake of the announcement deciding the futures of Lyle and Erik Menendez.
On Saturday, August 23, the former Rosie O’Donnell Show host, 63, took to Instagram with a blunt message. “Free the Menendez brothers,” she wrote in bold, black text on an off-white background.
The A League of Their Own actress didn’t offer any other comments in the wake of a California parole board denying both Erik and Lyle’s request for parole this week. Erik’s denial came on Thursday, August 21, while Lyle’s decision was delivered on Friday, August 22.
In the comments, O’Donnell’s followers were divided by her stance on the Menendez brothers’ case.
One Instagram user pointed out, “Many other people I’d like to see freed before two spoiled kids who killed their parents for money.”
Another commented, “I love you Rosie but I don’t agree with you on this….. we will agree to disagree!”
Someone else shared, “The families of both victims are pleading for this! I want what they want!”
A different follower who agreed with O’Donnell wrote, “I can’t believe that they were denied bail/release!!!! The idea that they are a threat, or a danger to society is laughable, and absurd! LET THEM OUT!”
Meanwhile, yet another Instagram echoed, “They deserve to be free.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom still has the power to reverse parole decisions, so the Menendez brothers could still potentially walk free. They could also be eligible for parole again in three years, per CNN. In the meantime, the cases will be considered for “administrative review” within one year and may be granted a second parole hearing in as little as 18 months.
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In 1996, the siblings were sentenced to life in prison after confessing to fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, at the Beverly Hills home in 1989. The defense argued that Erik and Lyle — who were only 18 and 21, respectively — killed their parents in self-defense following years of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of their father. Meanwhile, prosecutors claimed the brothers killed their parents so they could inherit their fortune.
In May 2025, a judge reduced Lyle and Erik’s sentences from life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. This made them immediately eligible for parole just months after Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story brought renewed attention to the decades-old case.
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