The first photos of Ryan Murphy‘s next series “American Love Story” have generated controversy, a full seven months before its February 2026 premiere date — and Murphy is hitting back. The initial installment of the new potential franchise — which comes after the success of the respectively American “Horror, “Crime,” and “Sports” stories — will cover the tabloid-favorite ’90s relationship of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. The couple died in 1999 when a plane Kennedy was piloting crashed. The photo series, featuring Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon in character as Kennedy and Bessette, was posted to Instagram June 13, setting off a week-long firestorm of heated internet and think-piece debate.
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In a June 16 “The Cut” piece, author Danya Issawi criticized the style choices for Kennedy and Bessette. “These do not appear to be the understated, tailored, and soft-yet-structured Calvin Klein, Prada, and Yohji Yamamoto garments Bessette-Kennedy wore in the ’90s, nor are they reminiscent of them,” Issawi wrote, taking specific issue with the fashion items looking like “modern-day replicas of their ’90s counterparts.” In an interview with Vogue, Bessette’s hair colorist Brad Johns piled on, “No one would believe that Carolyn in the ’90s would ever have that color from me. It’s too 2024.”
“Why didn’t Vogue call us and ask, ‘Let’s talk about your decisions. What are your reference photos?’” Murphy said in response. “It’s interesting because Vogue called several times with interest in covering the show, but one of the first things they write is this without even checking with our us?” Murphy also told Variety that several of the pieces in the photo were not final. He called the harsh critiques “not fair,” drawing a comparison to how tabloid culture treated the real-life Bessette in the ’90s.
“We’re writing a story about a person – an unknown person – who falls in love with the most famous man in the world and suddenly she can’t leave her house. She was constantly being photographed, being called a cunt by the paparazzi,” Murphy explained.
Joining in the critical chorus was actual Kennedy Jack Schlossberg (here’s a family tree for those curious), who said the family was not involved in the production.
“See, the right to privacy — which includes the ability to control your own name, image, and likeness — doesn’t survive death in the state of New York, and for that matter, he’s considered a public figure,” Scholssberg said in an Instagram video. “So, there’s not much we can do. But I hope those making these shows take seriously what he stood for in his life, all that he achieved in it. And that they donate some of the profits to what they’re making to the John F. Kennedy Library. For the record, I think admiration for my Uncle John is great. What I don’t think is great is profiting off of it in a grotesque way.”
Also for the record, Murphy said he would donate to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. He also added that he was a fan of Schlossberg’s Instagram videos “when he just lip syncs to ’90s girl groups stuff. I want more of that. But I think it would be really hard if your relatives are always in the media.”
Murphy’s series are no stranger to controversy. Both “Monsters” seasons, each of which tackled real life murderers, ignited heated debates. One of those subjects, Erik Menendez, even an issued a statement himself criticizing the show. “I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show.” Murphy told Entertainment Tonight at the time — a quote he seems to be echo in the Kennedy-Bessette brouhaha.
“If I ever do something like that again, I have to put a warning label on the top of the caption, explaining to people what the process is,” he concluded in the Variety interview.
