What’s that adage about reporting? Don’t become the story. For New York magazine’s Oliva Nuzzi, she got thrust right into the eyewall of this storm after it was revealed that she had an improper relationship with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. She claims it was never physical. Still, whatever the case, it blew up her engagement with Politico’s Ryan Lizza. Not that anyone outside of the news industry or the Beltway cares, they shouldn’t since everyone has more pressing life matters at hand, but this is the sort of blow-up the political class lives for—and the schadenfreude has been remarkable (via Vanity Fair):
The new reports, which broke Thursday evening, are just the latest in shocking Kennedy-related headlines, along with his aggressive emu roommate, Kennedy's ongoing attacks on life-saving vaccines, and the notorious brain worm. After Vanity Fair reported that a former babysitter has accused Kennedy of sexually assaulting her, Kennedy responded, “I am not a church boy.”
The reports regarding Nuzzi—which Kennedy has neither confirmed nor denied—come at a dangerous time for the mainstream media, the credibility of which has faced increasing attacks in recent years. It doesn’t help that pop culture depictions of real journalists suggest that unprofessional relationships are stock in trade.
According to Status’s Oliver Darcy, New York magazine placed 31-year-old political reporter Nuzzi, 31, on leave after she “allegedly engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a reporting subject.” Though neither New York nor Nuzzi named that person, unnamed sources told Darcy—which the New York Times corroborated—that it was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whom Nuzzi profiled last November (prior to the reported beginning of the relationship). Nuzzi, who did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment, told Darcy via a statement that “earlier this year, the nature of some communication” she had with “a former reporting subject turned personal.”
Puck News reports that Nuzzi sent nude photos of herself to Kennedy, who since 2014 has been married to Curb Your Enthusiasm actor Cheryl Hines. Nuzzi had until recently been engaged to journalist Ryan Lizza, now at Politico, whom The New Yorker fired in 2017, following alleged sexual misconduct.
Regarding Nuzzi, Kennedy “bragged” to friends about the pictures, the Daily Beast reports. The boast reportedly made its way to David Haskell, New York’s editor-in-chief. In a meeting on September 13, Haskell confronted Nuzzi, who eventually admitted to it. According to Nuzzi, “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict.” She didn’t report on the subject or use them as a source, she says, but she still extended an apology “to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”
Nuzzi has been dragged on social media. For those who need to remember, Nuzzi wrote a piece about the declining health of Mr. Biden, which reared its ugly head during his debate with Donald Trump in June and destroyed his re-election campaign. In July, she followed up about the widespread effort to hide the president’s declining mental abilities, including anecdotes about how Mr. Biden couldn’t remember the names of longtime friends at White House events. Is this why she was targeted, along with RFK Jr.? Mr. Kennedy dropped out of the race as an independent and endorsed Trump.
Ms. Nuzzi wrote an article about the open secret about Mr. Biden’s health. We’ve seen how the power brokers in this party attack their enemies. Look at what the Biden presidency has done to the Department of Justice, weaponizing it to surveil those sharing anti-Biden memes and engaging in pro-life advocacy while running interference in probes aimed at Hinter Biden’s tax troubles. Government officials are now going after Elon Musk for purchasing Twitter.
Some have come to Nuzzi’s defense, like former Breitbart politics editor Emma-Jo Morris, who was the first to reveal to the world the sordid nature of the Biden world, thanks to Hunter’s laptop, adding that Nuzzi was a fair reporter, adding to the faux outrage about the ethics of this situation. Others have suggested that Nuzzi got hurled into the woodchipper because that’s the world we live in—we like seeing people turn themselves inside out over these sorts of stories.
This does not account for why the “schadenfraude” is not equally applied to each of them. Where was it for CNN and Suzanne Malveaux? For that matter, where was it for the Times reporters who were so wildly off on every major story for the last decade due to blind trust of their… https://t.co/ycC8WY30ax
— Emma-Jo Morris (@EmmaJoNYC) September 22, 2024
Everyone in DC knows who everyone is hooking up with and that Olivia Nuzzi is not unique in her situation. Such fake outrage.
— Emma-Jo Morris (@EmmaJoNYC) September 21, 2024
I’ve been a subject of Olivia Nuzzi’s reporting, and she was totally fair and very respectful. I had some issues with that story when it was published, but in terms of what I actually said, she didn’t misrepresent a single syllable. She actually showed up at my apartment in…
— Emma-Jo Morris (@EmmaJoNYC) September 21, 2024
People who are using this moment to go after Olivia Nuzzi's Biden story in particular are so funny. She was totally right. About something very important. That other people wouldn't write about. That piece is why we want her on that wall!
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) September 21, 2024
Because Olivia Nuzzi wrote the article no one would write — the one that suggested Biden had been declining a long time and there was a concerted effort to hide it from the people Biden served. https://t.co/k4aiKfTaqZ
— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) September 21, 2024
Whatever the case, I couldn’t care less about Nuzzi’s personal life, though I get the ethical questions. Still, let’s not act like this is new.
Last, and this is beside the point, RFK Jr. is quite the center of contrives. Forget his position on vaccines; the man killed a bear and dumped it in Central Park, had part of his brain eaten by worms, and is now under investigation for taking a chainsaw to a dead whale.
This story will be made into a movie someday.