Media coverage of the alleged “sexting” affair between New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr has been tainted by “sexism,” according to commentator Dan Abrams.
Abrams, founder of the news site Mediaite and a prime time host of a talk show on NewsNation, said he found it hard to believe Kennedy’s claims that the 31-year-old Nuzzi inundated him with racy photos of herself against his wishes.
He told his audience on SiriusXM on Tuesday that while Nuzzi has been placed on leave by the magazine, Kennedy has emerged largely unscathed as evidenced by him continuing to make public appearances and giving speeches urging voters to support former President Donald Trump.
“It’s not a good look for her — but it’s also not a good look for him,” Abrams said on SiriusXM, noting that Kennedy, 70, is married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Cheryl Hines.
Nuzzi had previously been engaged to Politico reporter Ryan Lizza. The two have since split. She has also been linked to former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann.
News of the Nuzzi-Kennedy relationship was first reported by former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy in his Status newsletter.
“He is married, he is 70, she’s 31. And I do think there is some — I do think that some of the reaction to her versus him is sexism,” Abrams said.
A mutual friend told The Post earlier this week that Kennedy was considering a possible lawsuit against Nuzzi after she allegedly “bombarded him with increasingly pornographic photos and videos” while tricking him into unblocking her numbers.
Jessica Read Kraus, who knows both Kennedy and Nuzzi, said that the political scion has hired security expert Gavin de Becker to investigate the saga.
Abrams, however, said he isn’t convinced.
“The reports are that she sent him, quote, ‘demure’ nudes of herself. And now he’s trying to claim that they were unwanted,” Abrams said of Kennedy, who is reportedly a serial philanderer.
“There is no way she is sending nudes of herself without him making it clear that this was going both ways, meaning he wanted them or whatever.”
Abrams said that while Nuzzi was now “sitting on the sidelines now waiting to hear what New York magazine is going to do to her for violating journalistic ethics,” Kennedy is “sitting back out there making speeches” while “no one’s really asking him much about it.”
He said that if a 70-year-old female politician was involved in a similar scandal with a younger male reporter who “sent her some form of nude of himself,” there would be “no way the press corps wouldn’t be all over that 70-year-old woman to find out what happened.”
In the Kennedy-Nuzzi scandal, “it’s all” on the 31-year-old reporter, according to Abrams.
“That’s a combination of the fact that it seems journalists are held to a higher standard than politicians, and women are held to a higher standard than men. Period,” he said.
The Post has sought comment from Nuzzi, Kennedy and New York magazine’s corporate parent Vox Media.