Kennedy Heir Jack Schlossberg Slams ‘Grotesque’ JFK Jr. Show — He’s Not the First to Criticize Ryan Murphy’s Approach to Telling Real-Life Stories
Jack Schlossberg is not a fan of FX’s Love Story.
The latest series from the prolific Emmy-winner Ryan Murphy chronicles Schlossberg’s late uncle John F. Kennedy Jr.’s romance with Carolyn Bessette. The show, which premiered February 26, quickly earned a place in Hulu’s top 10. But for the Kennedy heir, it’s merely a cheap exploitation of his famous family’s legacy.
Jack Schlossberg says ‘Love Story’ creator ‘knows nothing about what’s he’s talking about’
“If you want to know someone who’s never met anyone in my family, knows nothing about us, talk to Ryan Murphy,” said Schlossberg during an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning on March 1. “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.”
Love Story follows JFK Jr. (Paul Kelly) and Carolyn’s (Sarah Pidgeon) dramatic relationship, which ended in a tragic 1999 small plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Schlossberg’s parents, Caroline Kennedy (Grace Gummer) and Edwin Schlossberg (Ben Shenkman), are characters in the show.
Murphy is an executive producer of Love Story, which was created by Connor Hines.
Ryan Murphy has been criticized for his ripped-from-the-headlines shows
Schlossberg isn’t the first to criticize Murphy’s approach to telling fact-based stories. He’s been slammed by people connected to the Jeffrey Dahmer murders, which were fictionalized in his 2022 Netflix series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. He was also criticized by the Menendez brothers, the subjects of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Erik Menendez said Murphy’s series about him was full of “blatant lies.”
“Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander,” he said in a statement (via NPR). But he later revised his opinion. He admitted the show helped viewers understand his and his brother’s traumatic childhood.
Some relatives of Dahmer’s victims also condemned Murphy for profiting off of their pain.
“I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there,” Shirley Hughes, the mother of Tony Hughes, told The Guardian.
Rita Isbell is the sister of Errol Lindsay, another of Dahmer’s victims. She wrote in an essay for Insider that it was jarring to see her testimony at Dahmer’s sentencing recreated verbatim for the show. Isbell was never consulted about the series, which she described as “harsh and careless.”
Relatives of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace also had blunt words for his 2018 series The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
“The Versace family has neither authorized nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming TV series about the death of Mr. Gianni Versace,” the family said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter. They added that the “TV series should only be considered as a work of fiction.”
Love Story airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET / PT on FX. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu.
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