Ryan Murphy’s new JFK Jr. show is already filled with hairy chests — & controversy!

Newcomer Paul Kelly's hairy chest has the gays (and Jack Schlossberg) fired up.

Mark Mark
Jul 24, 2025 - 20:00
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Paul Kelly wears a backward baseball hat on the set of "American Love Story," portraying JFK Jr.

Ryan Murphy has told his share of horror, crime, and sports stories, but now he’s set his sights on the heart with new spinoff series, American Love Story.

The first installment (set for a February 2026 release) follows the romance between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and in classic Murphy fashion, it looks to be filled with controversy, drama, and most importantly, a really hot dude.

Meet relative newcomer Paul Kelly, who reportedly beat more than 1,000 actors for the role of JFK Jr. and has already won over the entirety of Gay Twitter X™.

How about we take this to the next level?

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According to Deadline, American Love Story documents “what started out as a beautiful union, widely regarded as American royalty, [that] began to fray under the stress of the relentless microscope and navel gaze of tabloid media.”

The show will follow everything, from JFK Jr. and Carolyn’s romantic origins to their “tragic deaths when his private plane crashed into the ocean on a hazy summer night off the coast of Massachusetts.”

(The 38-year-old was flying with his wife, 33, and her sister Lauren when he lost control of his plane in 1999.)

Rounding out the cast is Sarah Pidgeon — who stars in this summer’s I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot — as Carolyn, and Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

Currently, the show is filming in New York City, where Kelly’s resemblance to JFK Jr. (and his hairy chest) have the gays thirsting.

Indeed, we salute Kelly for ditching the razor to portray the famously furry Kennedy. That’s dedication!

And even with his clothes on, the actor’s resemblance to JFK Jr. is uncanny.

Don’t get too excited, though. According to Kelly’s Instagram page, he married his wife, Syd Widziszewski-Kelly, in May 2023

That said, not everyone is feeling the furry-chested love.

Back in June, JFK Jr.’s nephew, Jack Schlossberg, called out Murphy and his team on Instagram for not consulting the family.

Later, Murphy replied on Gavin Newsom’s podcast that he “thought it was an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you really don’t remember.”

This week, Schlossberg (who was the ring-bearer at JFK Jr.’s wedding) fired back on Instagram — and threw some shade.

“You’re making millions off John, making a public spectacle of it but won’t contribute to any of your riches to the causes he championed, or the legacy of public service he represented,” the 32-year-old wrote.

“Also odd that the actor playing the sexiest man alive is bloated!”

Cue the controversy!

Check out more reactions to Kelly’s hairy chest and snaps from his Instagram below…

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