Jack Schlossberg blasts 'Love Story' as 'grotesque' show about uncle JFK Jr.

Jack Schlossberg blasts 'Love Story' as 'grotesque' show about uncle JFK Jr.

Jack Schlossbergis doubling down on his criticism of the hit show "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette."

USA TODAY

The 33-year-old aspiring New York congressman – the son ofCaroline Kennedy, the only surviving daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis – blasted theRyan Murphy-produced FX series in a "CBS Sunday Morning" interview released March 1 for dramatizing his late uncle's life.

"If you want to know someone who's never met anyone in my family, knows nothing about us, talk to Ryan Murphy. I would just want people who do watch the show to watch it with one letter in mind, and that's a capital 'F' for fiction," Schlossberg told correspondent Mo Rocca.

He continued, "The guy knows nothing about what he's talking about, and he's making a ton of money on a grotesque display of someone else's life."

Jack Schlossberg (left), President John F. Kennedy's grandson, remains a critic of FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessett," which stars Paul Anthony Kelly (right) as Schlossberg's uncle, John Fr. Kennedy Jr.

Schlossberg suggested Murphy donate his profits to "some of the causes that John championed throughout his life," or the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum "to help keep President Kennedy's memory alive."

Schlossberg said, "He's making money. This is not a documentary. And I'll leave it at that."

He fired one final shot by saying, "If Ryan Murphy really cares so much about the Kennedy family, my uncle John, maybe he would try to do something about getting Trump out of power."

USA TODAY has reached out to reps for the show and Murphy for comment.

"Love Story," the first installment in Murphy's anthology, andits breakout stars Sarah Pidgeon(who plays Carolyn Bessette) and Paul Anthony Kelly (JFK Jr.) havetaken the internet by stormsince its Feb. 12 release. The limited series, inspired by Elizabeth Beller's biography "Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy,airs Thursdays on FXand comes out on Hulu the following day.

Behind-the-scenes of making 'Love Story'— stars talk hair transformations, tattoo cover-ups

Ryan Murphy 'was not prepared' for Kennedy family backlash

Schlossberg has been vocal about his issues with "Love Story" since 2025,at one point commentingon first-look photos of the cast that were shared in June: "HEY RYAN — admiration for John is great but maybe consider DONATING PROFITS TO THE KENNEDY LIBRARY thanks."

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston "is dedicated to the memory of our nation's thirty-fifth president" and "portrays the life, leadership, and legacy of President Kennedy," according to itswebsite.

Murphy replied at the time, "I absolutely will."

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<p style=FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette" (Thursdays, 9 ET/PT on FX and streaming on Hulu) depicts the romance of the pair, who tragically died in a plane crash in 1999. Let's take a closer look at the actors and the real-life people they're portraying.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr.

Model turned actor Paul Anthony Kelly told USA TODAY that some days it took three hours to get into character. "It would be an extra two hours for coverup (of his tattoos) and then an hour for hair and makeup," Kelly said. That perfectly coiffed Kennedy hairdo was achieved with "a little bit of water and a hairdryer and a lot of brush work."

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette

Sarah Pidgeon, a natural brunette, estimates she spent 22 hours in the hair salon over two days to lighten her locks within the realm of Bessette-blond. The stories written about the couple and Bessette in particular were "so misogynistic," Pidgeon tells USA TODAY. "There was this narrative that they wanted to stick to, generally, and this characterization of her that I've just found couldn't be further from the woman that I came to know."

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Naomi Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Naomi Watts told "Entertainment Tonight" the production "did a bunch of tests" to find the right look, "because I really look nothing like her," the actress admitted. "The coloring is all wrong, and she has a different nose, and we certainly played around with prosthetics. And then we weren't improving. We were just making me look more different. So we sort of scrapped it." Watts donned a wig for the role, brown contact lenses and makeup to close the age gap.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Dree Hemingway as Daryl Hannah

Dree Hemingway, the great-granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, portrays "Splash" star Daryl Hannah in the limited series. In real life, JFK Jr. and Hannah had an on and off relationship for years, but broke up for good in 1994, according to reports.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy

Grace Gummer, daughter of Meryl Streep and sculptor Don Gummer, plays Caroline Kennedy, John Jr.'s older sister, born three years before his arrival. After Caroline's father's assassination in 1963, her mother's death following a cancer diagnosis in 1994, and John Jr.'s death in 1999, Caroline is the only surviving member of their immediate family.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Ben Shenkman as Edwin Schlossberg

Ben Shenkman ("Royal Pains," "Billions") plays Caroline Kennedy's husband Edwin Schlossberg. The couple wed in 1986 and had three children, Rose (1988), Tatiana (1990), and Jack (1993). Tatiana died of acute myeloid leukemia in December 2025.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein

Alessandro Nivola portrays American fashion designer Calvin Klein, whose eponymous label was where Carolyn Bessette worked and where she met John F. Kennedy Jr.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> <p style=Noah Fearnley as Michael Bergin

Michael Bergin, a Calvin Klein model who acted on "Baywatch," engaged in "a casual romance" with Carolyn Bessette in 1992, Elizabeth Beller writes in "Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy," upon which FX's limited series is based. "A former hotel doorman at the Paramount, Bergin would later, in a tell-all book, 'The Other Man,' claim he was sexually involved with Carolyn from the fall of '92 until her death.
"There's no doubt Carolyn befriended Bergin, and, true to form, helped him with his career," Beller continues. "Carolyn and Michael had an on-off relationship, much more off than on. His later account of it is considered questionable by many of Carolyn's friends."

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

'Love Story' cast photos compared to real-life people including JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette

FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette" (Thursdays, 9 ET/PT on FX and streaming on Hulu) depicts the romance of the pair, who tragically died in a plane crash in 1999. Let's take a closer look at the actors and the real-life people they're portraying.

Speaking on California Gov. Gavin Newsom'spodcastthe following month, Murphy admitted that Schlossberg's criticism was "an odd, dark moment."

"The thing that I was not prepared for was sort of the Kennedy firestorm, which I thought was very strange," Murphy said. "It's very sympathetic, by the way. It's a love story; it's not a takedown. It's a story about youth taken too soon and idealism, things that we need more in politics."

He continued, "Then you have a member of the family speaking out. I took it with a grain of salt; it's a younger generation." Murphy also noted that of all the films and shows about the Kennedys, "not one has ever been authorized by the family."

"I never even thought they wanted to do that," Murphy said.

Fact-checking 'Love Story'The truth about an instructor missing JFK Jr.'s fatal flight

Paul Anthony Kelly plays John F. Kennedy Jr., and Sarah Pidgeon portrays Carolyn Bessette in FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette." The two are seen in Season 1, Episode 4, which aired Feb. 19, 2026.

Executive Producer Brad Simpson emphasized in an interview withThe Hollywood Reporterearlier this year that "Love Story" was made "with sincerity" in regards to a real-life tragedy. (JFK Jr., Bessette and her sister Lauren died July 16, 1999, when a plane piloted by Kennedy Jr. crashed.)

"For all of us who are making TV shows based on real events, you have to consider your ethical obligation to the family members and approach it with love and kindness," Simpson said.

EP Nina Jacobson confirmed in the interview that the team did not have contact with the Kennedy family.

<p style=John F. Kennedy's grandson and Democratic influencer Jack Schlossberg is running for Congress, launching a campaign to replace retiring New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, according to a New York Times report published Nov. 11.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Jack Schlossberg stands in front of a photograph of his grandfather, President John F. Kennedy, during a ceremony to announce the name of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts May 29, 2011. The photograph shows President Kennedy as a Navy Lieutenant JG circa 1942/43. Jack Schlossberg (L) and Tatiana Schlossberg watch their mother Caroline Kennedy testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination to be ambassador to Japan in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Sept. 19, 2013. President Barack Obama and Former President Bill Clinton help Ethel Kennedy (2nd R) up a set of steps as Jack Schlossberg (L) looks on before a wreath laying ceremony at the grave site for President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery Nov. 20, 2013 in Arlington, Va. The 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy was marked on Nov. 22, 2013. Jack Schlossberg, grandson of late US President John F. Kennedy, speaks as he intruduces President Barack Obama during a dinner honoring the Medal of Freedom recipients on Nov. 20, 2013 at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Wearing a uniform of Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), Jack Kennedy Schlossberg (L) speaks to journalists beside his mother U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy (C) at the end of their visit to TEPCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture on May 14, 2014. Kennedy toured the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant for the first time on May 14, pledging continued US help with the clean-up. (L-R) Caroline Kennedy, Edwin Schlossberg and Jack Schlossberg attend the 2015 Statue Of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's Gala in the Great Hall at Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration on May 19, 2015 in New York City. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy and her son Jack Schlossberg greet Secretary of State John Kerry (R) upon his arrival at Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni on April 10, 2016. Kerry arrived in Japan on April 10 for a Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima, marking the first-ever visit to the atomic-bombed city by a U.S, secretary of state. Caroline Kennedy and her son Jack Schlossberg attend the Met Gala in Jan. 5, 2017. U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney accepts a Profile in Courage Award from Jack Schlossberg and his mother Ambassador Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, May 22, 2022. Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, tours the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum with U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy (R front), Jack Kennedy Schlossberg (2nd L) and Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg (R rear) in Boston, Dec. 2, 2022. Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former US President John F. Kennedy, speaks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 20, 2024. Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy, takes a photo as President Joe Biden departs for Michigan from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 6, 2024. An attendee poses for a selfie with Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during an event held by the Harris-Walz campaign's national Jack Schlossberg visits The Empire State Building on Sept. 17, 2024 in New York City. Jack Schlossberg speaks during the 2025 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on May 4, 2025.

See Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy's grandson, step into the political spotlight

John F. Kennedy'sgrandson and Democratic influencerJack Schlossbergis running for Congress, launching a campaign to replace retiring New York Rep. Jerry Nadler,according to a New York Times report published Nov. 11.

She said, "Generally speaking, we don't engage with the people who are public figures, because you end up either feeling obligated to honor something that they ask you, 'Please portray me this way, but not that way,' or you feel that, that you're having competing versions."

Pidgeon sympathized with Schlossberg as she said, "He has every right to share how he feels about it."

She added, "We were approaching this with integrity and respect, and I think we were successful in that, but we were also understanding that these weren't just real people — but they also have family and friends still with us today, and that their legacy reverberates and lives on through them as well."

The "Love Story" finale is scheduled to air on March 26.

Contributing: Jay Stahl, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Jack Schlossberg blasts Ryan Murphy's 'Love Story' as 'grotesque'

 

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