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NY Mag reporter Olivia Nuzzi is in the midst of a scandal after an alleged affair with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was revealed, and social media observers were left stunned.
On Thursday night (September 19), NYMag political reporter Olivia Nuzzi was placed on leave by the masthead’s leadership after it was learned that she engaged in a “personal relationship” with “a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign,” the publication announced. That former subject was revealed to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – the information was disclosed by another reporter, Oliver Darcy via his Status newsletter. “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” NY Mag’s statement said. “An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias. She is currently on leave from the magazine, and the magazine is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”
The news caught many by surprise, as Nuzzi has been caught up in controversy for her attacks on former president Barack Obama as well as President Joe Biden, being one of the early voices demanding that he stop running for re-election.
Nuzzi would offer her statement through Brian Stelter of CNN, saying: “Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal. During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source.” Nuzzi would state that the relationship was “never physical”, but did go on to say she should’ve disclosed the situation to eliminate a conflict of interest. “I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York,” she concluded. According to Darcy, the alleged affair took place after her profile piece on Kennedy was published in November 2023 – two months after Nuzzi became engaged to Politico’s Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza.
Darcy’s report also went on to claim that Kennedy (who is married to actress Cheryl Hines) and Nuzzi were apparently “sexting” after Nuzzi had flown out to interview him at his Brentwood home for the profile. A rep for the third-party presidential candidate, who’d go on to endorse Donald Trump last month, sent out a statement claiming: “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”