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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Io Dodds

Olivia Nuzzi’s first job since alleged RFK Jr affair may already be under threat: report

Scandal-prone political reporter Olivia Nuzzi may already be in danger of losing her new job at Vanity Fair after allegations that she secretly sabotaged other journalists’ investigations into her reported then-lover RFK Jr.

Nuzzi, who famously "parted ways" with New York magazine last year over her alleged undisclosed affair with the much older Kennedy, looked set for a comeback this September when she was hired to be Vanity Fair's West Coast editor and given a glossy profile about her forthcoming memoir in The New York Times.

But in an explosive Substack post last week, Nuzzi's ex-fiancé and fellow political reporter Ryan Lizza claimed that she had secretly aided Kennedy's campaign and worked to kill off damaging stories about him — even while continuing to report on the election.

Now, reports suggest that that Nuzzi's new job is in danger and that executives are likely to let her temporary contract expire, citing anonymous inside sources.

"It looks like they are getting rid of her," one source told Page Six, with another claiming that she had never attended a meeting or even picked up her company laptop.

Two executives at Vanity Fair's publisher Condé Nast told Semafor Media that magazine executives had been disturbed by Lizza's allegations, and were unlikely to renew Nuzzi's contract.

Both reports stressed that no final decision has been made. The Independent has asked Vanity Fair and Nuzzi's lawyer Ari Wilkenfeld for comment.

Last week's blog post was the latest in a series of bombshell claims by Lizza, who was fired from the New Yorker in 2017 over alleged sexual misconduct and has been accused by Nuzzi of hacking her devices.

The two have repeatedly dueled in court since their split, with Nuzzi seeking a restraining order against Lizza and accusing him of trying to blackmail her before dropping her request to the judge.

Nuzzi has been promoting her memoir American Canto, which reportedly claims that Kennedy wanted her to have his baby and regularly uses psychedelic drugs.

Vanity Fair previously said it was "looking at all the facts" following Lizza's initial article, which accused Nuzzi of also having an affair with Republican politician Mark Sanford, again while covering political campaigns that he was involved in.

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