The Coverage of Olivia Nuzzi and RFK Jr. Has Gotten Gross

At the end of last week, the political gossip side of the internet was rocked with a slate of sex scandals that varied in predictability. News that noted pervert Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) once attended a sex party where a 17-year-old was present, for example, was not especially surprising. But the revelation that star New York magazine political reporter Olivia Nuzzi is on leave over a “non-physical,” sexting affair with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.? That shocked people. 

The affair reportedly lasted roughly eight months, beginning shortly after Nuzzi’s November 2023 profile of the then-candidate. And when it was brought to New York editor-in-chief David Haskell’s attention, he confronted her and she eventually copped to it after initially denying it. That is pretty much all we—the New York magazine reading public, that is—need to know about this story. (I’d argue that, if you don’t read New York magazine, this scandal is entirely irrelevant to you and you don’t need to know anything about it.) But as is often the case with media scandals, coverage and discussion of the story got way too detailed almost immediately.

Among the grossest and most eye roll-inducing subplots here is the sexist narrative coming from the New York Post via Kennedy’s camp, alleging that an “obsessed” Nuzzi stalked and victimized him. However, as a Vanity Fair report pointed out, this is highly unbelievable coming from “a man who has been accused of sexual assault and has a long and well-documented history of allegedly pursuing women while he is married.”

like most sane people on here, I agree that the nuzzi situation was a big ethical nono, she prob shouldn’t cover presidential elections for a while (also she’s talented and will be just fine)

but some of the discourse around it is HURTLING full tilt into misogyny. exhibit a: pic.twitter.com/6eGnnVkNjZ

— Tess Owen (@misstessowen) September 24, 2024

By contrast, a source from Nuzzi’s camp told the Post, “It’s absolutely untrue that she was the aggressor, but both parties were aware of how high-pressure and high-risk the circumstances were and for that reason their communication was very on and off.” Another source close to her told Vanity Fair, “She was not stalking him. She did not bombard him with images.”

Unnecessarily sexualized, less-than-plausible narratives about Nuzzi and her supposed pursuit of Kennedy have sparked a feeding frenzy. Both the Post and the Daily Beast have cited a salacious Substack post from controversial, independent journalist Jessica Read Kraus, who at different points was friends with both Nuzzi and Kennedy (and who covered Johnny Depp very favorably during his 2022 defamation trial against Amber Heard). According to Kraus, Nuzzi all but hunted Kennedy, who repeatedly blocked and unblocked her; Kraus claims that Nuzzi contacted him via multiple phone numbers and emails. “Once unblocked, she bombarded him with increasingly pornographic photos and videos that he found difficult to resist. After brief exchanges, he would block her again,” Kraus alleged.

Her newsletter further offers a sexist analysis of Nuzzi’s approach to reporting: “Nuzzi employs subtle methods to create a personal connection—misconstrued words, friendly giggles, and telltale signs,” Kraus wrote, citing an unnamed source who claimed that these tactics “have become a model for many young female journalists.” Nuzzi’s reporting, which includes detailed profiles of political figures like Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and—now infamously—Kennedy, has previously raised important questions about how journalists get such close access. But a gendered attempt at analysis like this does not answer them.

There are legitimately important aspects of this story to be probed further: how, for example, Nuzzi’s superiors handled the revelation when they learned about it; how the affair might have impacted the magazine’s coverage of the election; or what standards and guidelines the magazine or other publications might adopt moving forward. (Vanity Fair‘s well-sourced piece gets at those questions in a responsible way.) 

The initial story of the affair and its potential ramifications for access journalism was and is as newsworthy as it gets. Stories of Kennedy’s friends claiming in the New York Post that he was unwillingly entrapped by “demure” nude photos? Decidedly less so.