New York magazine has silenced its usually talkative reporters over the “sexting” scandal involving star reporter Olivia Nuzzi and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a report.
Vox Media, which bought the magazine in 2019, warned employees not to correspond or contact Nuzzi about the bizarre incident. Business Insider The report cited a letter sent to employees on Tuesday by General Counsel Brian Leung.
According to BI, David Haskel — who took over as the magazine’s editor-in-chief in 2019 — also doesn’t want anyone to publicly badmouth Nuzzi.
“You have to wonder if there's more to come out,” one newsroom source told Business Insider.
Vox declined to comment.
Nuzzi and Kennedy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Nuzzi sent on leave Last week, he acknowledged engaging in a “personal relationship” with “a former subject related to the 2024 campaign while reporting on the campaign” as the magazine’s Washington correspondent.
Former CNN correspondent Oliver Darcy Status Newsletter The report said the subject was Kennedy.
Employees will have to wait to ask Haskell about his decision because his monthly staff meeting scheduled for Wednesday was canceled due to the controversy. Sources told Business Insider that this postponement is not unusual.
Three New York staffers told Business Insider that the magazine's newsroom has been rocked by the scandal.
Sources said some staffers were upset that Nuzzi was not fired immediately — because he violated the magazine's ethical standards — while others expressed sympathy for his situation.
The journal said it was conducting a “more thorough third-party review” of Nuzzi's published work after an internal investigation found no evidence of bias.
“We regret this breach of our readers' trust,” New York said in a statement last week.
The 31-year-old reporter profiled Kennedy in November 2023 and continued reporting on the election despite their relationship — which Nuzzi said was not physical Statement given to the New York Times,
Most recently, he reported on former President Donald Trump in an article published Sept. 9.
Nuzzi had faced criticism even before he was sidelined for writing a controversial article “A conspiracy of silence to protect Joe Biden,” Which was published a week after the president's poor performance in a debate against Trump.
Liberals took to the X to criticize the reporter and complained about the cover art that accompanied the story, which showed a cartoon Biden wearing his signature glasses with his mouth wide open.
