“Classic actor justifying the role”—Charlie Hunnam stands up for his character on Monster: The Ed Gein Story, but viewers aren’t having any of it

"Classic actor justifying the role PR talk." That’s how a Redditor summed up Charlie Hunnam's defense of his role as serial killer Ed Gein in Netflix's new true-crime anthology Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Reddit looks like it agrees, considering the thousands of upvotes.

Hunnam said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he hoped that, after watching, viewers would question who "the real monsters" are.

He went on to clarify,

"Is it Ed Gein who was abused and left in isolation and suffering from undiagnosed mental illness and...that manifested in some pretty horrendous ways? (...) Or are we the monster of the show because we’re watching it?"

Apparently, that last part did not land!

The post sparked a heated debate on r/television. With more than 7,000 upvotes, a user wrote, "I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s the guy that skinned people and made a lampshade out of it." Another commenter bluntly said Ed Gein was a monster and referred to it as "a stretch."

Reddit calls out moral gymnastics on Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Redditors weren't convinced by Hunnam's claim that Monster was "a sincere exploration of the human condition" rather than a shock-value entertainment. They went on to say, "Sure, stories can explore what shaped Gein, but moral ambiguity kinda ends when you’re sewing human skin into furniture."

The responses were brutal! "That’s why I love Jaws. The shark is a biter, and no one wants to teach me a lesson," another joked. "The real monster is the dude who made a belt out of human [expletives]," added another user.

Redditors brought up the ethics of true-crime storytelling. Although the show may seek to look into trauma and mental illness, one pointed out that it is still "making entertainment of that sad and horrible situation."

Others went into the moral dilemma when another echoed Hunnam's own statement regarding whether "Hitchcock or [the viewers] (...) the monster of the show." A third responded, "[No], it's still Ed Gein." By now, the debate had turned into a meme. One user asked, "Was it the audience all along?" Another replied, "No, it was the friends we murdered along the way."

Hunnam says they weren’t "sensationalizing" it

Hunnam continues to argue that his portrayal of the titular character wasn't meant to promote Gein's crimes, in contrast to the trolling.

He told The Hollywood Reporter,

"I never felt like we were sensationalizing it. (...) It was all in order to try to tell this story as honestly as we could."

He also said that he usually doesn't enjoy horror or "impossibly dark (...) stories." In fact, he claimed that during a two-hour dinner, co-creator Ryan Murphy offered him the role, which left him "gobsmacked." He told EW, "I just found myself saying yes. Based (...) 99 percent (...) on just how much I liked Ryan."

The Sons of Anarchy star went on to say that his meeting ultimately taught him something about himself:

"Which you most need to find is where you least wish to look."

Perhaps it's a noble idea, but to many of The Ed Gein Story watchers, it seems too pompous for a story about a man who made decor out of corpses.

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The Ed Gein Story is now on Netflix.

NEXT UP: Charlie Hunnam will return to a new role soon!

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