New York Magazine has revealed that it has placed one of its reporters on leave after she engaged in a “personal relationship” with Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Mr Kennedy entered the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate earlier this year, before suspending his campaign in August to endorse Donald Trump.
Mr Kennedy has twice previously run for the top office, hoping to emulate his uncle John, the assassinated 35th president of the United States.
As the publication’s Washington correspondent reporting on the campaign, Olivia Nuzzi violated the magazine’s “standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures”.
The New York Magazine statement added: “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign.”
According to a spokesperson for New York Magazine, the publication only recently became aware of the supposed relationship — which started after a Nuzzi wrote a profile of Kennedy in November 2023. A spokesperson for Mr Kennedy rejected the relationship claim, stating that Mr Kennedy “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested”.
The statement said that an internal review of Nuzzi’s published work has found “no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias”. However, the magazine has enlisted a third party to conduct a more thorough review.
Who is Robert F Kennedy Jr?
Mr Kennedy, the fourth member of his family line to seek the presidency, is a best-selling author and environmental lawyer who has campaigned on issues such as clean drinking water.
His father, Robert F Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968 when he was the favourite to become the Democrats’ choice as their presidential candidate. President Kennedy, his uncle, was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.
Beyond his well-known relatives, Robert F Kennedy Jr is famed for his opposition to vaccinations. Long before the Covid-19 pandemic, he was active in the movement and his beliefs were criticised by public health professionals and members of his own family.
Regarding vaccinations, his niece Kerry Kennedy described his concerns about vaccines as “dangerously wrong” in 2020.
He has often argued against the safety of injections and mask regulations throughout the pandemic. He has also regularly appeared to connect vaccines to autism, a claim that has been repeatedly refuted.
Mr Kennedy is also well known for his work in environmental law. The 70-year-old achieved a master’s in environmental law from Pace University, having previously studied at Harvard and the London School of Economics (LSE).
He developed a reputation as a passionate environmental advocate by fighting against the use of fossil fuels and advocating for indigenous populations. Because of his accomplishments in cleaning up the polluted Hudson River, he was recognised as one of Time magazine's "heroes for the planet".
Who is Robert F Kennedy Jr married to?
Mr Kennedy married his third wife, actress and director Cheryl Hines in 2014 at the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod. They were introduced by Hines’ co-star Larry David, from the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm and started dating in 2012.
Hines is best known for playing the role of Larry David‘s wife, Cheryl, on Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which she has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also starred as Dallas Royce on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory and made her directorial debut in 2009 with the film Serious Moonlight.
Who is Olivia Nuzzi?
The New York-born Nuzzi, 31, has written for publications including The Daily Beast, Politico, The Washington Post and GQ. In 2017, she became New York Magazine’s first Washington correspondent. In addition to reporting, she has produced television series and documentaries for the likes of MSNBC.
In 2018, Nuzzi made headlines when she revealed she entered the home office of Corey Lewandowski — the then-president Donald Trump’s former campaign manager — without permission.
