Mondo Appropriato #8: Another Male Kennedy Scandal Involving Philandering

In a series called Mondo Appropriato, Culled Culture examines how “on the nose” something is in the pop cultural and/or political landscape.

Where once it was easy to bill any Kennedy “tragedy” as merely part of the “Kennedy curse,” it seems that, more and more, the overshadowing word is “scandal” rather than “tragedy.” And most of it is less a “curse” than largely being the making of the (often depraved) Kennedy men. The latest to outshine some of his forebears’ former “glory” in that department is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While, sure, one might have thought that his brand couldn’t possibly be more damaged after years of anti-vaccine rhetoric, a bid for president in 2024 that has almost been as embarrassing as Donald Trump’s and admissions to two separate incidents of “bizarre” (to say the least) behavior with dead animals (specifically, a bear cub and a whale), it turns out, they were wrong. There was so much more damaging to do in 2024.

The latest scandal in the Kennedy arsenal in general and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arsenal in particular is Olivia Nuzzi’s admission to having a “personal relationship” with the presidential hopeful earlier this year while on the campaign trail. And yes, the vagueness of the term “personal relationship” leaves far too much to the imagination. Described as a “star reporter” for New York Magazine, Nuzzi was suspended from the publication after “acknowledging” her close dynamic with RFK Jr. (evidently, close enough to risk her entire career on this confession), though she was certain to stress that the relationship wasn’t physical. Even so, as any woman who has ever had to deal with a boyfriend or husband’s “best friend” in a female form, there is obviously such a thing as an emotional affair (which is oftentimes even worse than a physical one). And it’s likely just as grating to Cheryl Hines as it is to any other woman.

Per a statement released by NY Mag,

“Recently our Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi 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. 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. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”

Alas, it’s unlikely that RFK Jr. would ever apologize for the violation of Hines’ trust. Then again, the Kennedy men are more than somewhat known for their penchants for having affairs and doing a very shitty job of being discreet about it. Leaving the door open for people to say that Hines should have “expected” it/“known better.” Especially considering his ex-wife, Mary Kathleen Richardson, killed herself after discovering a journal of RFK Jr.’s detailing how he slept with thirty-seven women in 2001 alone (which means who knows what the total number of women he had affairs with really added up to in the years before and beyond that). In other words, while RFK Jr. was usually in a non-marriage bed, Hines should have seen that she was making her own to lie in. But those who would try to fault her with “I told you so” logic, well, they clearly haven’t been subjected to “the heart wants what it wants” phenomena.

In the male Kennedys’ case, however, that saying has always been “the dick wants what it wants.” And damn the aftermath. Perhaps that’s what makes the Nuzzi “incident” one of the more unique ones for Kennedy shame in that RFK Jr. didn’t even “go all the way,” despite probably knowing somewhere deep down that there would be an inevitable fallout (so why not make it all slightly worth it with an orgasm here and there?). And, apparently, plenty of email/sext exchanges showcasing the nature of his and Nuzzi’s emotionally intimate rapport.

As for Nuzzi, it will be for her just as it has been for every woman that has suffered at the hands of a Kennedy scandal: her reputation will still end up being more tarnished than his (which is, quite simply, the patriarchy in active motion). Particularly because she’s a journalist now facing an extreme loss of credibility, even more so due to the fact that she’ll be billed as some kind of Jezebel in future dealings with male subjects. Indeed, her behavior is liable to be met with plenty of contempt from fellow journalists of the belief that the last thing the industry needed was another reason for the public to doubt it. And the last thing the Kennedy “dynasty” needed was yet another (cum) stain on it thanks to a man who couldn’t resist a flirtation that turned into something far more unseemly.