New York Magazine’s Washington correspondent, Olivia Nuzzi, is on leave following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The magazine says the reporter, who once wrote an article complaining about Hollywood portrayals of female journalists sleeping with sources, has “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.”
“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” the statement adds, claiming an internal review of her output “found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias.” A “more thorough third-party review” is underway, with the magazine saying it “regret[s] this violation of our readers’ trust.”
Nuzzi has publicly conceded that “the nature of some communication” between herself and “a former reporting subject turned personal,” but she insists this relationship “was never physical.” She also claims she did not “directly report” on the said subject or use them as a source.
Neither New York Magazine nor Nuzzi, 31, names RFK Jr., 70, as the “reporting subject” in question in their statements, but former CNN journalist Oliver Darcy has identified him. Kennedy, for his part, has issued a statement through a spokesman insisting he has “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
Kennedy briefly ran against Joe Biden for the Democratic Party’s 2024 nomination last year before announcing an independent presidential campaign. He has since endorsed Donald J. Trump, arguing that the Democrats are now unrecognizable under Kamala Harris and that the former president is better placed to ‘Make America Healthy Again.’
