RFK, Jr. Had an Affair with 31-Year-Old Journalist, Olivia Nuzzi

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | September 20, 2024 |

Yesterday, I thought that the biggest political news would easily be that Mark Robinson — the Lt. Governor of North Carolina and the Republican gubernatorial candidate — had left a number of messages on message boards on a porn site using his real name and email address suggesting that he was a “Black Nazi,” he wanted to reinstitute slavery, that he was a perv, and that he was into trans people (ironic given his bigotry). The reality, however, is that it doesn’t change the Governor’s race — Robinson was already dead in the water. But he’s also not dropping out, which could hurt Trump (who has campaigned for Robinson several times, and Kamala HQ has the receipts) in a state where it’s within the margin of victory. That might be enough. Winning North Carolina would
d be huge because it would mean that Harris could lose Michigan or Wisconsin and — as long as she still won Pennsylvania — she could beat Trump in the Electoral College (alternatively, if she picked up North Carolina and Nevada, she could lose Pennsylvania).

But we’re not here to talk about Mark Robinson. That is somehow already old news. The news that Oliver Darcy broke last night in his newsletter, Status, is that New York Magazine D.C. correspondent Olivia Nuzzi had a romantic relationship with Robert Kennedy, Jr.

I subscribe to the Status newsletter (it’s very good), and when I saw the headline — “Olivia Nuzzi on leave from New York magazine after RFK relationship” — I thought, “RFK, Jr. has a son? How many RFKs are there in that family?” But no: Nuzzi had what we have since learned was an “emotional” and “digital” affair with the RFK, Jr.

So, they were sexting (this is doubly amusing because I know that Nuzzi used to work for Anthony Weiner). RFK, Jr., of course, is married to Cheryl Hines (I can’t help but think of RFK’s first wife, who reportedly ended her own life after RFK, Jr. allegedly cheated on her with multiple women). Nuzzi — who is obviously on leave from New York Magazine now — is also engaged to Ryan Lizza, who was fired from The New Yorker himself over sexual misconduct allegations (he is currently the chief Washington correspondent for Politico).

Recall, too, that Nuzzi is the journalist who recently wrote the New York Magazine profile on RFK, Jr.,—that’s when they met— in which it was disclosed that RFK, Jr. had dumped a dead bear in Central Park. That means this emotional/digital affair has likely been going on within the last several weeks.

“The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict,” Nuzzi said in a statement. “I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”

A representative for RFK, Jr., expressed that “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.” That might actually be true, but it doesn’t change the nature of their digital emotional affair.

I’m also beginning to think that RFK, Jr. has some sort of Pete Davidson thing. What is the allure? Is the combination of power and crackpottery that appealing? Maybe vaccines kill sex appeal!

This is all fun political gossip, but it should be noted that it won’t change a thing. No one who was going to vote for Trump is now not going to after discovering that a campaign surrogate — who recently dropped out of his own third-party bid — had an affair with the journalist who reported about his bear scandal.

What might help is Kamala Harris telling Oprah that if someone broke into her house, she’d shoot a motherfucker.