Not even two full weeks ago, New York magazine journalist Olivia Nuzzi was put on leave after her boss discovered that Nuzzi had been engaged in some kind of affair with Robert Kennedy. We heard that Nuzzi bombarded Kennedy with “demure” nude photos, and recently, there was a story about Nuzzi and Kennedy having “incredible” sex on FaceTime, after which they confessed their love for one another. Yiiikes. Well, it was scandalous for both Nuzzi and Kennedy. Kennedy is married to Cheryl Hines, and Olivia was (at the time) engaged to Politico’s Ryan Lizza. In fact, Lizza reportedly learned of Olivia’s affair in August and he had some kind of “heated call” with Kennedy. There were rumors that Lizza had something to do with Nuzzi being outed to her bosses, although the evidence for that had been pretty thin… up until now. On Tuesday, Nuzzi petitioned a DC court for a no-contact restraining order on Lizza after (she alleges) he threatened to blackmail her, harassed her and more:
New York magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi is publicly accusing her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza, a prominent political journalist with Politico, of orchestrating a harassment and blackmail campaign against her after their split and while Nuzzi had a personal relationship with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The accusations — which Nuzzi made in a filing and before a judge in Washington, DC’s Superior Court this week and which he denies — are the latest explosive twist to emerge from the fallout of her previously undisclosed relationship with Kennedy, the former independent presidential candidate, and as the national political press has turned the saga into a discussion of journalism ethics.
Nuzzi wrote in a court filing that in mid-August, Lizza “explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation—a threat he has since carried out.”
Lizza, Politico’s chief Washington correspondent and Playbook co-author, wasn’t in attendance at a court hearing Tuesday where Nuzzi was granted a temporary no-contact order against him. Requests like Nuzzi’s are typically the first actions in domestic disputes in court, and granted quickly by judges, often without the opposing party even knowing.
Lizza hasn’t responded to the allegations in court, but he did provide a statement to CNN after being informed about the court action.
“I am saddened that my ex-fiancée would resort to making a series of false accusations against me as a way to divert attention from her own personal and professional failings. I emphatically deny these allegations and I will defend myself against them vigorously and successfully,” Lizza said. The court has set the next hearing for October 15, when Lizza will have a chance to appear before the judge and respond.
Nuzzi said she believes Lizza began his alleged harassment at the beginning of July, as a way to blackmail her back into a relationship with him and punish her when she wouldn’t acquiesce. She said by the next month, Lizza had stolen a personal electronic device from her, was hacking her devices, then anonymously shopping information about her to the media. Some of the information may have been “doctored” to hurt her more, Nuzzi alleged, and she believes Lizza impersonated “an anonymous campaign operative” to give a political campaign information that would hurt her further, according to the court records.
Nuzzi also accused Lizza, potentially “through a third party or anonymous channel,” of tipping off her employer last month about what she calls “the matter.” RFK Jr. is not referred to by name in the court record.
In her court filing, Nuzzi said Lizza also threatened her with violence “to assume his share of financial responsibility” for a joint book contract they had, according to the court records.
In a court proceeding, which took place Tuesday morning, a judge granted Nuzzi’s request to temporarily bar Lizza from contacting her and to keep him away from her and her workplace, according to the public court records. The judge signed off on her request to have police accompany her when she attempts to get her possessions back from Lizza. The couple had lived together within the last year, the court filing said.
Damn. I’m not going to pick sides here – I think it’s very likely that Lizza did some or all of what Nuzzi has accused him of. I also think it’s possible that Nuzzi is desperately trying to push the blame for her own catastrophic decisions onto someone else. The one thing that has a real ring of truth for me is that Lizza was using his insider knowledge of how media companies function to get the story about Nuzzi’s affair out there, especially to Nuzzi’s bosses. We’ve known that a couple of outlets and journalists got tips, including Semafor’s editor. We also know that Nuzzi’s New York editor felt like what he heard wasn’t just some random gossip, that he believed Nuzzi was having an affair and might even have proof of the affair. Also: hours after the restraining order was ordered by the court, Lizza and Politico “mutually agreed” that he would take a “leave of absence.”
Photos courtesy of Lizza’s IG and Nuzzi’s IG.
Not FaceTime fuckin with Trumpster Bobby🤮
If Lizza did what Nuzzi said then he should have to answer for it. Figure out another way to deal with the betrayal buddy. She still needs to answer for what SHE has done. She should be fired period end of story.
Hahahahahaa!
100% on everything you said.
Also: that dude has really really creepy eyes. Something just ain’t right about that fella.
Lizza left his wife for Nuzzi. He’s had some history of sexual harassment/sexual abuse at the job as well. I don’t care for or about any of them. This is a product of their own messiness and lack of ethics. Let them fight and I’ll get the popcorn and wine.
They are both awful people. She was perfectly fine hooking with a guy caught up in a sexual harassment situation until her own cheating and unethical conduct at work got revealed.
Two things can be true 1) Nuzzi acted unethically in sexting with RFK and not disclosing the conflict of interest to her editors 2) Lizza was mad about the relationship and leaked it.
When someone betrays you, you want them to pay. Let’s all not act like we will be turning the other cheek. Some can but majority might do the same thing. So I’m not mad at him. They were engaged and she chose to do what she did.. Ofcourse he feels like a fool
As his first wife must have felt like a fool at the time, but is now vindicated.
I disagree that most people would lash out this way. Scream, cry, rage – yes. He turned his emotions into calculated actions seemingly some time after the discovery. That tends to suggest that he had time to think about it. He could have chosen to calm down, but he made a series of decisions *over time* to act out in this fashion. Badly done, Ryan.
I would not be putting myself in line to perform criminal acts, to get back at someone. And I know very few people who would.
I have been betrayed many times by many people. I have never once gotten revenge on them in any way.
Nuzzi is an ahole but Lizza is a sexual predator and punisher. He’s dangerous and no, she does not deserve to be “punished” by a man who can’t regulate his emotions.
Also, no, “getting revenge” is NOT normal behavior, especially in grown ass adults.
The first google result about this guy: “Ryan Lizza Fired by The New Yorker Over Sexual Misconduct Allegation”. It is one of those stories where everyone sucks. I believe that he is kind of guy who would blackmail his ex to get back together.
That is not the case in this instance. He does not want to get together but make her pay. If you cheat on me and I have the means to embarass you I will. No if what’s or buts about it. Just do not understand why some are acting like this is not standard practice for most jilted lovers.
He might be the worse person on earth but he’s acting like most would. Nobody forced her to cheat in fact the one he cheated with is going around saying she zip tied him and forced
p@rn on him. How humiliating is that. I’m sure he’s reminding her everyday of the prize Kennedy is. Lol! So in that case she’s being harassed with the truth. I were her I wouldn’t want to hear it either.
@AD, That is not what is alleged here though: “Lizza began his alleged harassment at the beginning of July, as a way to blackmail her back into a relationship with him and punish her when she wouldn’t acquiesce.”
According to the court case, he tried to blackmail her, he didn’t just make the affair public. That is criminal behavior. I remember the partner of David Letterman’s affair partner tried to do the same thing to him and he went to jail for it. Make it public all you want. Considering his previous sexual misconduct history, the guy is the criminal here. She is an unethical journalist who shouldn’t get another job in the industry. She didn’t commit any crimes though.
@sevenblue —
All that is true IF — and it’s a big IF — you’re taking the word of an unprincipled jackhole (Olivia Nuzzi). At best, she’s a cheater and unethical journalist. She has already demonstrated a willingness to be dishonest, so whatever she said in this filing may or may not be true.
@FYI, definitely! It is all alleged now, she needs to provide evidence of course to prove all she is saying.
If Lizza did all she accuses him of, he’s in deep trouble. But honestly, she knows how journalists are wired — to get scoops. He had a big one.
Everyone Sucks Here, and she has terrible judgment, poor ethics and bad taste in men.
They are obviously both absolutely terrible but a lot of this reads like standard behavior from someone who has been betrayed/cheated on. Of course he tried to get proof or info from her personal devices. I mean I guess they weren’t married, but come on that’s standard advice in every Facebook group when you get someone asking what to do if they suspect their spouse of cheating. It also feels relatively standard to threaten a partner with taking their shenanigans public or making them own up to them. I’m not arguing it’s healthy or right but none of this seems that out of the norm for a toxic, messy relationship between two dirtbags. The X factor is they are both in media and he knew that the details were newsworthy and unethical so he sought to get it out there. And let’s be real, if the positions were reversed she would have done the exact same thing! They’re both gossipy political journalists. This is their bread and butter.
This whole thing smacks of someone trying to pass some of the negative coverage to another person. And I say that as someone who thinks Ryan Lizza is a vile human being
“Lizza began his alleged harassment at the beginning of July, as a way to blackmail her back into a relationship with him and punish her when she wouldn’t acquiesce.”
That is not normal or toxic. That is criminal. It is understandable when the partner wants to make the affair public, especially when it is about ethical standards of a journalist. What is alleged is different.
Yes. This is absolutely criminal and malice behavior.
I think he’s vile too, but …
blackmail to keep his part of a book deal? Sure.
blackmail to keep the apartment? Yep.
blackmail to keep her in the relationship after she cheated? NO.
That’s her narcissism showing.
@FYI, hmm, I wouldn’t say that. The guy is in his 50’s with #metoo allegations. He might be a creep obsessed with her. There are lots of men like him out there. We are gonna see if she provides any messages or emails for her allegations.
None of this is findings of fact. It’s all allegations from someone who lacks a ton of credibility. Maybe it was malicious and criminal. Or maybe she’s spinning what happened into something more nefarious. It’s important to remember in these things the person accused is not given an opportunity to respond.
This isn’t standard behavior for a normal person, definitely
Nothing has been proven at trial and this restraining order was granted without notice. So all this talk of blackmail is based on her allegations and this is already someone who is a known liar about things.
Her actions remain massively unethical and outing her to her employer for lying about this huge conflict of interest is not a criminal act.
Also if he was blackmailing her back in July, she could have ended it by telling her employer then. She did not.
I said it on the last post! Her journalistic integrity is not good. But this wasn’t Lizza informing because of journalistic ethics. It was straight out of the toxic male playbook to destroy her career and reputation to punish her for cheating and then coerce her back into a relationship because his ego was hurt.
It happened to my friend too when she cheated on her husband with someone at work and the husband called in an HR complaint. They got her on failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest. Her reputation was damaged and she missed out on a big promotion so in the end her ex got exactly what he wanted out of the complaint.
Here’s the thing…Nuzzi’s career and reputation SHOULD be destroyed. LIzza’s should as well (plus he should be in jail for blackmail). But how Nuzzi’s misconduct came into light does not take away the fact that she engaged in activities that should be career-ending.
Again, it is not okay to cheat. It’s especially not okay to cheat with someone at work, because it affects the careers of many OTHER people. (No, an affair is not a big secret. Yes, it DOES impact promotions, raises, retaliation, etc.) They didn’t “get her” — she effed up and got a proper hit to her reputation.
Employers don’t care about affairs unless it involves their own employees. So calling out a cheater may be mean but it’s not a crime.
“Also: hours after the restraining order was ordered by the court, Lizza and Politico “mutually agreed” that he would take a “leave of absence.””
Goddamn. Lizza sucks on his own for unrelated reasons, but this is a lot. Dude left his wife and kids for Nuzzi and now he (and she) have completely blown up his life too in the fallout. Feel almost a bit bad for him
The guy got fired from The New Yorker during #metoo. I don’t even understand how he got a job at Politico after that. I am sure he is the kind of a man who is gonna fail upwards and got another job at another “legitimate” media after this blew over.
I don’t feel bad for him at all. He’s gross and should get as much fallback from this as his gross fiance (and her gross affair partner).
Kind of funny he was so hellbent on blowing up her life and career and now she’s doing the same back to him lol two of the worst people getting what they deserve, IMO. I don’t feel sorry for either of them.
Two leopards eating each other’s faces. They’ll both write books about this fiasco, but by the time they are published, no one will be interested. I just want to not have any more mental images of RatFKer Jr. and Nuzzi’s “digital” relationship.
I’m just waiting for the movie.
Rumer Willis with blonde hair would have a close resemblance to Nuzzi. On a physical level Jerry O’Connell is the right age and looks a little like Lizza but don’t know if he has the acting chops.
And all the double zz’s are driving me crazy. Who can keep these names straight?
I think this also means that Nuzzi is not returning to New York Magazine.
No one in the mess is coming out looking good.
Bunch of garbage people.
Hope their 15 minutes are up ASAP.
Ladies, dont ignore red flags nor your intuition. his being accused of sexual harrassment previously was a huge red flag for Olivia, plus being a cheater. Cheaters tend to be narcissistic, toxic, controlling in some form. I dont care if they can help elevate your career, do not ignore red flags. I dont care how good the d*ck is, I dont care how horrible his sob story is, I dont care how horrible his partner is (allegedly), do not ignore the red flags
I do believe she has plenty of red flags of her own — that HE ignored.
I think this was a case of “like attracts like”
These two are both trash. But they are just the tip of the trash pile when it comes to our political media.
Evidentally, he is unfamilar with the expression “If they’ll do it with you, then they’ll do it to you.” Their relationship started as an affair, so why is he so surprised by this? More likely it’s his pride that is hurt.
Ryan Lizza seems to attract troubles when it comes to women. He was fired for alleged bad behavior around women, investigated at CNN and now this. Something is weird around him. That Nuzzi lady is something else. They both are 😖.
Neither of these people are good people so I don’t care about either’s hurt feelings 😄
Whoa! If he blackmailed her, stole her electronic devices, provided tips and information to her boss and other journalists, do we really know how much of these ‘stories’ about her ‘affair’ with RFK are the truth? How much is exaggerated? How much is an outright lie? And of course RFK is happy to go along with any of it and add to it. Yes, it happened, but why do the details keep getting worse? And why isn’t she defending herself at all? If a blackmailing, harassing ex has all her physical evidence, ready to use against her, of course, she can’t defend herself!
I’m glad she went to court, but the public will just keep pinning scarlet letters on her. RFK will keep stroking his ego in the press and Lizza will move on to another job. As usual, the woman will be the only one to pay the price.
The stories aren’t being refuted by Nuzzi because they’re true. Please do not defend this hack (and she is a hack) by saying she has no agency in this matter. She’s attempting to defend herself by saying her bad behavior came to light because her finance brought it into the light. That’s an outright admission right there. Her ethics in this have been horrendous, and she doesn’t get a pass from me because she has a vajayjay.
Lizza may move onto another job. He’s pretty damn tainted. But I would not be shocked if Nuzzi lands at Fox or gets a similar far-right gig as well.
I would like to focus on the positive: the system worked the way it was supposed to work. She went before the court and the court determined she presented enough information to grant a temporary restraining order and, as often happens in domestic disputes, ordered that she be accompanied by an officer when retrieving her personal belongings. There is a follow up hearing for him to present his side. BUT, she was believed by the court and granted some protection. The system should work this way for all people.
It’s good that the legal system had this option available to her and that she got what she asked for (and that Lizza has a chance to defend himself, only fair). But people sometimes abuse that system too, filing suits to harass people or shake them down. I don’t know which is the case here. They’re both awful. It wouldn’t surprise me if she really did feel physically threatened by him, but neither would I put it past her to do this as way to get back at him. I suppose it could be both.
The system does have checks and balances. The court obviously determined there was an enough for a TRO. And he gets to present his side, at which time the court may change its mind. But I’d rather that people who need it have it in place (for whatever it’s worth) even if there are some folks who would abuse the system.
They are both raging dumpster fires. Choosing sides in this case would be like deciding if you’d rather be attacked by fire ants or a rabid raccoon.
Every person involved in this grotesque soap opera sucks.
Is “blackmail” what we’re calling “my cheating POS fiancee alerted my job to a massive breach in essential journalistic ethics” now? LOL. Gotta love trailer trash politics on main.
So what’s the story here? Olivia Nuzzi writes scurrilous, thinly sourced hit pieces on Joe Biden that arguably play a large part in pushing him from the presidential race. Prior to that, she wrote a lengthy profile on Kennedy in November 2023, during which she thought she might “pass out” riding with Kennedy and his dogs in his “death machine” because it smelled “so bad.” Even after her gag-making ride with Kennedy, she tried to start a more intimate relationship with him that appeared to include phone or Facetime sex, and possibly closer physical contact. Alas, when her bosses find out about her undisclosed unethical acts with Kennedy, she is put on leave, but not fired. In her defense, she claims she didn’t start her personal relationship with Kennedy until after the story on him ran – if we can believe her.
Rather than firing her for an undisclosed, inappropriate relationship with the subject of her reporting, her employer has basically cleared her to earn money freelancing while she’s on leave. Her prior writing history shows she likes to become part of the story. In the past, she’s texted with Rudi Giuliani, had personal conversation with tRump, and snuck in to Corey Lewandoski’s office without permission. Apparently, she’s a star reporter?
At some point Ms Nuzzi struck up an intimate relationship with Ryan Lizza AFTER his “improper sexual conduct” woes in 2017 gets him fired by New Yorker, suspended by CNN as a commentator, and let go as an instructor by Georgetown U. Given Ryan Lizza’s past history, one wonders why Ms Nuzzi would want to be intimately involved with him. And now she’s alleging that Ryan Lizza is stalking her, trying to blackmail her, and saying bad things about her. IMHO the attractive blonde Ms Nuzzi has been white privileged by the court in allowing her a police escort to retrieve a phone or computer that she should have already bricked and recovered from. Otherwise, make me care about Ms Nuzzi.
Team No One
This is one of those stories where everyone involved is absolutely awful. #TeamNoOne