Making the strange scandal over the secret relationship between Olivia Nuzzi and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even stranger, on Monday Keith Olbermann confirmed that he and Nuzzi “used to date.”
But don’t worry, it was “nice” and “wholesome,” he wrote on X. Olbermann said he decided to comment publicly after learning the New York Post was publishing a story about their relationship, which occurred in 2014, when he was 55 and she was 21.
“We didn’t do much to keep it quiet. I just assumed nobody cared. Certainly it has nothing to do with the RFK stuff. I also assumed it had been covered online somewhere. Nearly all of it was really nice and (god help me) wholesome. In fact it was she with whom I got my first dog and for that I’ll always be grateful to her,” Olbermann said.
He also said he will be discussing it in a bit more detail during his Tuesday podcast. “But I warn you: it’s pretty boring,” he added.
That “RFK stuff” is the revelation late last week that Nuzzi, New York Magazine’s star Washington correspondent, had had a secret affair with Kennedy while she was also covering the 2024 presidential election and he was still an independent candidate.
The magazine has since asserted that a cursory internal investigation found “no evidence of bias,” nor any inaccuracies in her reporting during the period. However, an independent third party is conducting a more thorough review of her work and conduct, and Nuzzi is on leave pending the results.
The scandal ignited a widespread debate about journalism ethics — with Nuzzi’s defenders claiming she’s being punished for a private sexual matter, while others say she lied about a conflict of interest for months.
In her only public statement on the matter, Nuzzi said her affair with Kennedy was “never physical.” New York Magazine editor-in-chief David Haskell has told staff that it lasted nearly nine months, from December 2023 until near the end of August, and that Nuzzi insists it began only after the publication of her November 2023 profile of Kennedy.
The relationship was “primarily emotional and digital” in nature, according to CNN. And Puck News, citing an individual “close” to Nuzzi, reported that she sent “demure nudes” to Kennedy.
The Daily Beast reported that the affair was exposed because Kennedy bragged about it privately to enough people that word eventually made it back to Haskell. Haskell then confronted Nuzzi, who reportedly denied it until given an ultimatum.
Responding to an apparent smear campaign against Nuzzi framing her as a stalker, Olbermann for his part has been very publicly critical of Nuzzi as a journalist, but has also come to her defense in response to Kennedy’s behavior.
“This psychopath and serial woman chaser @RobertKennedyJr is talking about having @Olivianuzzi ARRESTED? I excuse none of her conduct but the dynamic just changed here. F– him. He’s an utterly irresponsible pile of s–t. You participate in these sexts and they become a problem, you call her boss. Faster than 10 months later. This is now about how RFK JR needs to be controlled and punished,” he wrote on Sunday.
Since the affair came to light, Nuzzi’s comments about the election and in particular about Kennedy have faced sharper scrutiny. She has not commented publicly on any relationship with Olbermann.