Jack Schlossberg is continuing to go after Ryan Murphy for the portrayal of his late uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. and wife Carolyn Bessette’s relationship in FX‘s Love Story series.
“If you want to know someone who’s never met anyone in my family, knows nothing about us, talk to Ryan Murphy,” Schlossberg said when asked about the show on CBS Sunday Morning. “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.”
The Kennedy scion stressed that the show, which chronicles John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s romance before the young couple died in a tragic plane crash in 1999, is “fiction” with a “capital F.”
Reiterating some of his earlier criticism of the series, expressed over the summer long before the show premiered last month, Schlossberg also urged Murphy to take action and donate any profits from Love Story‘s success to help preserve President John F. Kennedy’s memory.
“I would hope that Mr. Murphy would donate some of the millions of dollars of profits that he’s making to maybe some of the causes that John championed throughout his life,” Schlossberg said. “Maybe he would donate some of that money to the JFK library to help keep President Kennedy’s memory alive, but he’s not. He’s making money. This is not a documentary.”
When pressed further as to why, when the Kennedy family has been the subject of numerous movies, TV shows and books, he’s taking such issue with Love Story, Schlossberg pointed to recent political events involving both President Trump and his controversial first cousin, once removed, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently the secretary of Health and Human Services.
“I think in the last year, two years, three years, partly because of RFK Jr., but also partly because Donald Trump has used JFK as sort of a human punching bag, both by renaming the Kennedy Center after himself, by doing a false reinvestigation into the assassination and dismantling all the programs that he fought for, there’s a lot of misinformation now and iconography being used about the Kennedy family, my family, at a time when we really can’t afford to confuse people,” Schlossberg said. “We really need to take every breath that we have to try to make things better. So, 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.”
Over the summer, Schlossberg preemptively criticized the series, writing on his Instagram Stories that Murphy is “profiting off”JFK Jr.’s legacy in a “grotesque way” with the show.
“For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with, the new shows being made about him,” Schlossberg wrote, “the answer is no.”
Murphy responded to Schlossberg’s critique on California Governor Gavin Newsom’s podcast indicating he was surprised by the backlash.
“I thought it was an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you really don’t remember,” the prolific series creator said.
Schlossberg fired back, again on Instagram, by listing a series of specific memories including, “being the ring bearer at his wedding and the day he died,” he wrote. “I remember Wyclef singing at his funeral.”
Schlossberg there too insisted Murphy is “making millions off John, making a public spectacle of it but won’t contribute any of your riches to the causes he championed, or the legacy of public service he represented. Also odd that the actor playing the sexiest man alive is bloated!”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about Schlossberg’s earlier comments, Love Story executive producer Brad Simpson said, “I understand that this show that we made with sincerity about these people is also the story of a tragedy in some people’s lives. And 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. What I hope is that when people watch the show, they will see our sincerity. They will see that we’ve approached this with love, and that we were trying to celebrate the life of Carolyn Bessette and JFK Jr..”
He added, in part, “I can understand why somebody could have a reaction before they see it, but I would say, ‘watch the show,’ because I think they’re going to be surprised at how sincere it is.”
Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Bessette, added, “I don’t know what it’s like to have a TV show or a book or movie written about my family, and I understand the sensitivities. He has every right to share how he feels about it. 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. That was always part of my consciousness. I hope that if they do watch it, they feel that we led with respect and honor for John and Carolyn — that’s my hope.”
Still, Pidgeon, Paul Anthony Kelly, who plays JFK Jr., and executive producer Nina Jacobson confirmed that though the show is inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s biography, they didn’t reach out to members of the Kennedy family.
“We have done a lot of stories rooted in real events, many times where the people are still alive, or relatives of the people are still alive. 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,” Jacobson told THR. “When you take more of a research posture as opposed to a personal interview position, we have found that you get a more dimensional view, even though you are missing the chance to talk to the people themselves. You’re getting more multiplicities of views.”
It remains unclear whether Schlossberg has seen the show.
Reps for Murphy and Love Story have not yet responded to THR‘s request for comment.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
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