DC Journalists Defending Olivia Nuzzi Draw Ridicule From Peers: It’s ‘Journalism Malpractice Full Stop’

A number of insider DC journalists — many if not most of them middle aged men — chimed in on social media Saturday to defend New York Magazine star reporter Olivia Nuzzi amid the scandal surrounding her secret relationship with RFK Jr.

But if they thought they would garner widespread agreement, they were mistaken. Instead, Nuzzi's defenders have been widely criticized and even more widely mocked — even by their own industry peers.

For instance, Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias retweeted a message that read, "Knowing that Olivia Nuzzi has a thing for older men, it's hard not to feel like a bunch of male journalists on Twitter are trying to shoot their shot by defending her now that she's single."

Yglesias' retweet was in response to Lakshya Jain's observation that, "It is extremely funny that 90% of the male journalists on Twitter have been simping for Olivia Nuzzi, while all of the female journalists are beyond livid for her committing an incredibly serious and obvious breach of ethics."

"Matter of Fact" host Soledad O'Brien wrote on X , "I'm sorry but lol" in response to a series of tweets by New York Magazine's Andrew Rice.

Rice's lengthy defense of Nuzzi encouraged several responses. wrote , ""Here she is in July..." Are you really that stupid to defend Nuzzi by citing the Biden-bashing that Nuzzi wrote WHILE she was sending her vagina pics to Biden's opponent, RFK Jr?"

Politics writer Chris Cillizza was treated to a particularly enthusiastic pile-on after writing, "On If we were all judged on our worst moments or our biggest mistakes, how many of us would come out looking anything other than awful? Don't write people off. The arc of a life is long."

Whether it was people pointing out that the scandal is about basic journalistic ethics and Nuzzi's apparent dishonesty, not sex, people pointing out creepy things he's said in the past, or simply people joking that he's hoping to get a date with Nuzzi, Cillizza's ratio showed exponential growth.

In addition to ratioing her defenders, plenty of observers also pointed out in clear terms just why this situation is so serious:

The relationship between Nuzzi and Kennedy was exposed after the latter bragged about it to multiple friends until the rumor reached Nuzzi's boss at New York Magazine.

Haskell confronted Nuzzi on Sept. 13. She denied the affair several times until Haskell "gave [her] the option to come clean," according to The Daily Beast. She was then removed from all coverage of the 2024 presidential election and placed on leave.