Keith Olbermann Addresses Ex’s Latest Scandal Amid ‘Sugar Daddy’ Claims

Keith Olbermann has implied he dodged a bullet by no longer being in a relationship with ex-New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi, who was at the center of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “sexting” scandal last year.

The former MSNBC host took to X on Monday (November 17) to react to new claims by Nuzzi’s ex-fiance, Ryan Lizza, who alleged that Nuzzi had an affair with former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford in 2020. Lizza claimed that he found love notes written by Nuzzi to Sanford.

“My heart stopped when I realized who he was,” Lizza wrote on his Telos News newsletter. “He was a famous politician, 32 years older than Olivia, and well-known for a sex scandal. But more importantly, he was a presidential candidate, a source, and the subject of Olivia’s recent profile for New York.”

Olbermann reacted to the bombshell report on X, writing, “Ryan Lizza appears to be accusing Olivia Nuzzi of an affair with Mark Sanford when she was covering HIM in 2020?”

He then shared an image of Keanu Reeves‘ character dodging bullets in The Matrix. “This is me,” he wrote alongside the pic.

Olbermann and Nuzzi dated over a decade ago, when she was 21 and he was 55. Lizza addressed Olbermann’s “unusual relationship” with Nuzzi in his newsletter, alleging that the news anchor acted as a sugar daddy, buying Nuzzi expensive gifts and paying her college tuition.

“While Keith, who was 34 years older, was generous, there were strings attached,” Lizza wrote. “Olivia had concealed the relationship from me and other friends, but one day she told me everything — too much, actually — and together we hatched a plan for her escape.”

Olbermann has not yet addressed the sugar daddy claims or commented further on his past relationship with Nuzzi. However, he did respond to one X user who said he had “the absolute worst taste in women.”

“You left out [Kysten] Sinema and [Laura] Ingraham,” Olbermann replied, referring to two of his previous relationships. “OTOH I’ve been dating since 1974, there have been great women too, you just didn’t know them because not all my choices have been bad.”

Nuzzi is set to release a memoir, which, in addition to detailing her career covering politics, will also focus on her controversial sexting affair with RFK Jr last year. Status reporter Oliver Darcy first broke the news of Nuzzi and RFK Jr’s relationship, which led to Nuzzi being fired from New York Magazine and Lizza ending their engagement.

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