AP Photo/Matt Slocum
New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi was placed on leave this week after she confessed to having had a “personal relationship” with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after writing a profile on him.
In a note to readers on Thursday evening, New York magazine announced Nuzzi had “acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures.”
The note added, “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign. 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.”
Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter confirmed that the “former subject” was Kennedy, whose presidential campaign Nuzzi had covered, but reported that the relationship “did not begin until after a November 2023 profile she wrote on Kennedy had been published.”
In her November 2023 profile of Kennedy, Nuzzi acknowledged the presidential candidate’s wife, Cheryl Hines, and reported on their life together in Brentwood, California.
“Bobby, as he’s known to friends, walked through the French doors dressed for his morning hike in blue jeans, a black hoodie, Keens, and an unfriendly expression,” she wrote. “He said little as he led his three enormous canines to the van, though I don’t know what he could have said that would have prepared me for the sight of the thing.”
Nuzzi detailed the filthy state of Kennedy’s van, writing, “Rearview mirror smashed to bits, seat belts chewed off, cushions gnawed open, filth and dog hair covering every surface. The death machine smells so bad I thought I might pass out after about 15 seconds riding shotgun.”
Nuzzi also wrote about “Kennedy’s chill disposition” and claimed “fear — and denial — is what Kennedy seems to inspire among the staid Washington Establishment supporting the incumbent president and the gangland anti-Establishment Establishment supporting the former president.”
In another section of the piece, Nuzzi wrote about hiking with Kennedy and his pets, painting a vivid picture of the presidential candidate shovelling “the astounding amount of waste produced by his dogs.”
“‘That’s coyote shit,’ he said, as he flung the object in question off his shovel and into the trees,” she recalled.
In one interview with The New York Times from March that went viral on social media following the latest news, Nuzzi argued Kennedy should be taken more seriously:
Yes, we’re forgetting or purposefully ignoring something rather important about this election: It’s not a two-man race. It’s a three-man race. A majority of Americans say they are unhappy with another “lesser of two evils” contest, and they’re in luck, as they have a range of third-party candidates to choose from. One of those candidates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is polling competitively, especially among young people, and he’s steadily gaining ballot access across the country. Last Tuesday, the campaign announced it had collected enough signatures to qualify in Arizona and Georgia, crucial swing states.
[…]
The establishment press has been reluctant to cover Kennedy like a serious contender because they fear they will face criticism for “platforming an anti-vaxxer.” But the establishment press doesn’t get to decide who voters take seriously. In 2016, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein earned enough of the vote in enough swing states to cost Hillary Clinton the election. Kennedy is performing way better than either of them ever did.
While it is not clear exactly when Nuzzi’s relationship with Kennedy began and ended, she made reference to him in several articles from publication of the profile until September of this year.
Kennedy’s name appeared twice in a January article about “Trump haters turned Trump voters,” and another two times in an April article about Arizona.
Kennedy was mentioned once in a May article about the Trump campaign.
In her most recent piece for New York magazine, Nuzzi acknowledged Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump and noted that the former president was now “talking about food quality and public health and forever chemicals — subjects of huge interest to Kennedy’s eclectic base.”
All of the aforementioned instances were in the context of providing information and stating fact, including poll numbers, however, or in one case quoting a supporter of former President Donald Trump who said that while Kennedy was “a nice person,” he was too liberal.
Excluding her November 2023 profile, Nuzzi did not delve into Kennedy’s character or state any personal opinion on the former presidential candidate in her New York magazine articles.
An unnamed person close to Nuzzi also told Status she did not use Kennedy as a source for any articles.
However, Nuzzi did make several social media posts about Kennedy, praising his events and soliciting information from the Department of Homeland Security about the status of his Secret Service protection, which he had repeatedly been denied.
In a statement to the Daily Beast on Thursday evening, Nuzzi denied having a “physical” relationship with Kennedy but acknowledged that their communications “turned personal” following her visit to his home.
“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal,” she said. “During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”
Have a tip for us? [email protected]
Share
Print
