Something really funny happened in June. Ryan Murphy revealed some “in character” photos of Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Kelly as Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr., all for Murphy’s American Love Story project. The “screen test” shots – or whatever we’re calling them – were widely mocked, ridiculed and trashed. Fashion historians ripped into Murphy for not taking Carolyn’s clothing seriously. The Birkin community was outraged. Carolyn’s old hair colorist wrote a whole Vogue article about how Murphy is going to get Carolyn’s blonde shade wrong. Murphy came out, at the time, to calm people down and announce that he would absolutely hire some historians with an eye for detail. Well, during the June fury, Jack Schlossberg also criticized Murphy’s American Love Story project. Schlossberg being JFK Jr’s nephew. Schlossberg said that Murphy should have sought the Kennedy family’s permission. I don’t agree with that, and neither does Murphy. He spoke out again this week.
Ryan Murphy thought it was “very strange” when John F. Kennedy Jr.’s nephew Jack Schlossberg called him out over his upcoming show American Love Story. The FX limited series dramatizes the marriage and deaths of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, and Schlossberg had previously shared his fears about the show “profiting off of it in a grotesque way.”
Sitting down with the governor of California on the This Is Gavin Newsom podcast, Murphy said he was shocked by Schlossberg’s comments about the project.
“I thought it was an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you really don’t remember,” said the Glee creator, noting that he was hurt by the criticism. Referencing Schlossberg’s remark that his family wasn’t consulted, Murphy pointed out that there have been 88 films and television shows about the Kennedys, none of which have been authorized by the family.
“I never even thought they wanted to do that,” Murphy said. “Ours is based on a book that’s very sympathetic to both people with Paul [Anthony Kelly] and Sarah [Pidgeon] playing their hearts out.”
In his past comments, Schlossberg expressed his desire for the show to “take seriously what [JFK Jr.] stood for in his life, all that he achieved in it, and that they donate some of the profits [from] what they’re making to the John F. Kennedy Library.”
Murphy said that the family has not read the script, but emphasized that it was “not a takedown.”
After Murphy shared a first look at the production, he received some backlash from fans about the wardrobe and hairstyling of his characters. The producer took the feedback seriously, including comments about actress Sarah Pidgeon’s hair, which was a wig, being far off from Bissette’s natural blonde locks. He said they made the decision to dye Pidgeon’s real hair, which was an improvement.
“We rolled up our sleeves and we listened to people and corrected it,” he said. “And I like doing that.”
Re: the styling… it doesn’t bode well that Murphy didn’t realize that he had to get it right from the word go. The fact that he put out those half-assed photos without understanding the backlash they would provoke doesn’t speak well of this entire project. As for his comments about Schlossberg… I find it unseemly, if that’s the right word, to argue “you barely even knew your uncle” to JFK Jr’s NEPHEW. Like, I don’t think Murphy needs permission from the Kennedy family either, but I also don’t think he needs to taunt them or be really rude about the death of a beloved member of their family? As in, the Kennedys have every right to say whatever they want about THEIR RELATIVES and portrayals of their relatives. Murphy needs to suck it up and just let it go – say something like “Jack has every right to his opinion, but this is how we’re doing it.”
Paul Kelly is John F. Kennedy Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon is Carolyn Bessette in the first look at Ryan Murphy's "American Love Story," premiering Valentine's Day 2026.
(photos: Ryan Murphy Productions)https://t.co/oWBlK48OZW pic.twitter.com/9EvnTBdjxn
— Variety (@Variety) June 13, 2025
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA – APRIL 23: Ryan Murphy arrives at the 2019 Time 100 Gala held at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz At Lincoln Center on April 23, 2019 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Image Press Agency),Image: 531644213, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289 – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Image Press Agency / Xavier Collin / Avalon
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- African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) TV Honors Awards at the California Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey, California on August 11, 2019. This was the launch of their first awards ceremony honoring those in television. Featuring: Ryan Murphy Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 11 Aug 2019 **ONLY AVAILABLE FOR SPAIN & USA**,Image: 536877690, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: USA and SPAIN DIRECT SALES ONLY – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR AND CAROLYN BESSETTE AT THE PREMIERE OF AIR FORCE ONE. WASHINGTON DC. 24 JULY 1997 .PICTURES /,Image: 546302464, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: John Harrington / Avalon
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR AND CAROLYN BESSETTE STOCK IMAGE. NEW YORK CITY. CIRCA 1990S. PICTURES /
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR AND CAROLYN BESSETTE STOCK IMAGE. NEW YORK CITY. CIRCA 1990S .PICTURES DENNIS VAN TINE
That was a nasty response to Jack from Ryan about his uncle. And he only “clapped back” at Jack because he knows that the styling for his project looks like Temu/Shein on steroids! No one does not need permission from the family, but no need to take personal shots when a family member expresses concerns.
Newsom has a podcast…to platform issues like these?!!! 😳
Really? Doesn’t the Californian Governor have better and more relevant topics to amplify? I know political discourse in the USA has gone to 💩 but I’d have expected the Kelce brothers to cover Murphy…not the governor of California.
Newsom’s state is being terrorized by ICE and a couple of weeks ago he was in South Carolina testing the presidential waters while masked goons kidnapped his constituents off the street. I find him deeply problematic and slick as snot. He has also platformed Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, offering very little pushback to their fascist opinions.
Bannon??? So…he’s a MAGA in disguise…
Did Kamala ever go on his podcast during her presidential run?
He seems to oppose Trump strongly enough but for some reason cozies up to the rest. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Never forget he was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle.
The podcast only started this year so no about Kamala. They came up together in Bay area politics and were often allied but were never particularly close. He came from a prominent Bay area family. She didn’t. Lol!
He seems to have gone off the rails when his marriage to MAGA Kim fell apart with his indiscretions but he recouped and married an Aryan princess and produced Aryan kids.
Newsom reminds me of the Manchurian candidate. I bet that even Schwarzenegger at his peak governor would have been left of him.
He was solidly left as mayor of San Francisco. He has gradually shifted right over time as he prepared to run for president. People think that Cali politicians are all the same because the state is so heavily Democratic but there are a lot of factions and Democrat on Democrat hostility is quite common. Then there’s the regional differences along with rivalry between the two big cities.
To me, one of the most alarming things I’ve heard from Newsom is when he told Charlie Kirk that his thirteen year old son absolutely loves Kirk’s podcast. I was like, Dude, you let a 13 year old listen to a Nazi?! That’s seriously bad parenting.
I 100% believe that half-baked screen test was the look until he got ripped. Glad he listened to criticism because the newest pap photos of Sarah are night and day to that awful look with the wrinkled satin skirt and converse + plus bad wig.
That line from Murphy about not remembering his uncle is pretty awful. Google tells me Jack was 6 when his uncle died. A lot of people have memories of that time and even younger.
And even if Jack was 6 seconds old when his uncle died, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that he was Jack’s uncle. So Jack is very much in his right to be upset even if Murphy (or anyone else) doesn’t like or agree with it.
Yes, Schlossberg has replied to the allegation that he doesn’t remember his uncle with a litany of all his memories including being the ring bearer at his wedding.
I have zero faith in this show, Murphy’s stuff always falls off a cliff and I don’t understand who keeps giving him the money and opportunities to half-ass TV shows.
Even though he doesn’t need the family’s permission, Murphy’s response was needlessly shitty and confrontational. If you can’t even be cordial to the living family members, why would I think you’d respect the dead ones you’re trying to profit from?
A Network (the movie) style assessment of misogyny at the dawn of the 24 hour news cycle as it crashed into paparazzi and celebrity culture would be interesting. Jack is right. This show will be awful and shouldn’t be made. Murphy does not have the class, nuance or personal character to tell autobiographical material with integrity. The man that allowed Leah Michelle to run amok and be a transphobic terror isn’t going to make a researched and balanced autobiographical drama. He is going to hit the paparazzi low points and cash his check. Team Jack!
This is a show that is loosely biographical, not autobiographical.
I really don’t like Ryan Murphy. And every story that comes out about him I like him that much less.
And wow does this look cheap! Total waste of time.
Sarah Pidgeon was excellent in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer remake that just came out. It made me really excited to watch her as Carolyn!
Murphy probably didn’t expect a Kennedy to speak out, since JFK Jr. never did (he was the most famous one) but Caroline Kennedy seems to allow more freedom for her son to be her own person and speak out if he wants to, even if it means he might make a mistake. Everyone now seems over trying to control their kids too much since we’re now living in a very different kind of world.
I’m not really sure why anyone is surprised when a family member expresses displeasure though. You have to expect that will happen.
Jack is 32 and can say what he wants
Yes, he can. I guess what I’m trying to say is that no one in the Kennedy clan seems under pressure like JFK Jr. was to keep their mouths shut anymore. Not sure where that pressure came from – his mother, his family, or society in general. If JFK Jr wanted to people to stop invading his privacy and space, which he might have, he never said anything, most likely due to pressure from everyone.
Murphy likely didn’t expect that the nephew is forging a different path from previous generations. Maybe even Caroline herself is over keeping quiet and her son can sort of say what she’s thinking. She most likely is annoyed by Murphy as she should be. She was the closest person to JFK Jr so it’s weird that Murphy thinks the nephew wouldn’t have some kind of knowingness, whatever you want to call it, about his uncle.
Forgot to say — Schlossberg is generally more outspoken about everything on social media (not just this topic), which is why I think Caroline gives him more freedom than Jackie likely allowed for her kids. In that sense, I think he’s allowed more room to make mistakes (which might have been an irrelevant comment I originally made).
JFK Jr. was considering one day he would go into Politics, and combined with his upbringing, he had to be careful for not saying the wrong words and angered the bosses at the newsrooms; besides, social media was not in every day’s life like it’s now, people got their news & opinions mainly from newspapers, TV & weekly magazines.
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It seems people can and did wrote biography of people they either didn’t know personally, or interviewed their subject and subject’s close friends, or did few in depth research of their subjects. All for money (and fame).
Murphy is no different. He used real historical events to make his many “American xxx Story”, disregarded the feeling of those real people and their relatives & friends, or the victims.
“The man that allowed Leah Michelle to run amok and be a transphobic terror isn’t going to make a researched and balanced autobiographical drama. He is going to hit the paparazzi low points and cash his check.”
Yes, Murphy only take care of his “stars” actors (meaning: the actors he likes), toxic work environments be d4mned.
So he’s not pretending anymore that the clothes/hair/etc was just a screen test and he meant to change things all along. I agree, it does not bode well and highly doubtful that he’s going to treat them with any respect or sensitivity.
And that’s such a shitty comment to make about his nephew. He was his mom’s baby brother, ffs. Just awful behavior and super defensive *again* all around.
Murphy is trash to go after someone so recently dead. The Crawford/Davis battle was one thing, but there are enough current Kennedy family members to hurt. Not that I care about the Kennedy’s in particular, but the death of John and Carolyn as well as her sister is incredibly tragic and sill relatively recent. That said, Schlossberg’s no prize either.
Those shots look like Hallmark Channel quality, one bad wig after another.
Murphy sucks. And the hubris of not even getting the right look for this stylish and beautiful couple also sucks. His cocky, rude response to Jack Schlossberg also sucks. In short, Murphy is an ass who will make a horrible film. He clearly does not know his place, as is true of many white men in this country.