The love story of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette has long been a tragic tale. From their brief time together, the cruelty of the media, and their honest adoration for each other, people have always reminisced on the couple’s relationship as a heartbreaking story. Recently, their love story was taken to Hulu by the controversial television writer and showrunner Ryan Murphy. 

While it’s clear Murphy has produced notable shows, it would be shortsighted to overlook his general lack of sensitivity. “American Horror Story,” “Glee,” “The Watcher,” and others have been commercial successes, gaining instant popularity for their positive traits.

Yet, these shows have at times been pushed to their limits by Murphy. One infamous example is from Glee’s 2013 filming. Just two weeks after Cory Monteith’s death, Murphy had the cast film an episode about his passing. Titled “The Quarterback,” the episode features unscripted breakdowns from cast members, highlighting Murphy’s insensitivity toward this sudden loss. The episode was filmed too soon, denying the cast a proper period to grieve for their friend and castmate. 

Well, Murphy has struck again. The new show, “Love Story,” premiered on Hulu with the first three episodes of the series on Feb. 12, following weekly releases until the show’s finale on March 26. 

At first, the show gained popular traction in the media for its accurate and classic sense of fashion. Even Kelly Klein, ex-wife of Calvin Klein, praised the show’s fashion accuracy. 

All of a sudden, men were flipping their baseball hats backwards, slouching big duffel bags over their shoulders, riding bikes, wearing buttoned shirts with belts, and more. Women took to long flowy skirts, straightened hair, minimal jewelry, and classic outfits consisting of a white T-shirt and a classic pair of blue jeans. 

There were even JFK Jr. lookalike contests happening. It was harmless at first, until friends and members of the Kennedy family spoke out about their disapproval of the making of the show.

While each episode of the series opens with a disclaimer stating, “Some characters and events have been dramatized or fictionalized for storytelling purposes.” This does not make the creation of the show any less sycophantic. 

Jack Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy and JFK Jr.’s nephew was interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning and claimed Murphy hadn’t met anyone in the family and knows nothing about them. 

“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 said. “It is a gross display.”

Schlossberg was not the only one who had strong feelings about the show’s creation. Actress and ex-girlfriend of JFK Jr., Daryl Hannah, was also upset with the show’s portrayal of not only herself but also the principle of the show’s production. 

While consent from the Kennedy and Bessette families was not required to produce the show, some believe it should have been considered. Concerns have been raised about the impact on the Kennedy and Bessette families, but these perspectives have not been addressed by Murphy. 

“The show was fun to watch, but after finding out how the family felt about it, it just felt wrong to watch it at all,” Olivia Raasch, fourth-year University of Iowa student, said. “It sort of felt like an invasion of privacy.” 

His reason for not finishing the show had nothing to do with the lack of morale behind its production, but instead with his boredom with the plot itself. With the knowledge that the show was created using a lack of confirmed conversations and opinions, this could have had an unconscious effect on how the viewers reacted to the show itself. 

Schlossberg encouraged Murphy to donate some of the “millions of dollars” the show earned to charities and foundations that JFK Jr. and Bessette supported when they were alive. Murphy did a dishonor to JFK Jr. and Bessette as individual people and as a couple by portraying them without support from their own families. But, like in “Love Story,” the media — and Murphy — does not care about what is right or wrong; they just want money and a headline.