JFK Jr.’s Nephew Jack Schlossberg Calls Ryan Murphy’s Upcoming Series ‘Grotesque,’ Says Family Wasn’t Consulted

One member of the Kennedy family isn’t thrilled about an upcoming TV series that focuses on the real-life love story between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

American Love Story, the latest in producer Ryan Murphy’s anthology saga, will spotlight the whirlwind romance and tragic deaths of JFK Jr. — son of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy — and Bessette, a fashion publicist. Hollywood newcomer Paul Kelly plays the famous first son, alongside The Wilds star Sarah Pidgeon as his bride.

The couple met in 1992 and wed in September 1996. Less than three years later, they died in a plane crash as JFK Jr. was flying his wife and her sister, Lauren, over a thick fog in Martha’s Vineyard. He was 38 and she was 33.

This week, first-look photos from the series showed Kelly and Pidgeon in costume as the buzzworthy couple, which inspired JFK Jr.’s nephew, Jack Schlossberg, to speak out on social media.

“Lately, my news feed has been filled with pictures of my uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., a great man,” Schlossberg said in a video posted to his Instagram Stories Thursday, June 19. “For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with, the new shows being made about him, the answer is no. And there’s really not much we can do.”

The 32-year-old son of JFK Jr.’s sister, Caroline Kennedy, explained, “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. For that matter, he’s considered a public figure, so there’s not much we can do.”

“I hope those making these shows about him take seriously what he stood for in his life, all that he achieved in it. And that they donate some of the profits [that] they’re making,” Schlossberg continued.

“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,” he noted.

PEOPLE reached out to Murphy’s reps regarding Schlossberg’s claims; they had no comment.

However, the producer did respond to viral criticism about Pidgeon’s look as Bessette in camera test photos released earlier this week. Critics dissected everything from her hair color to the type of Birkin bag the actress was holding in the shots.

“Carolyn Bessette is clearly a religious figure and it’s a religion of her own,” Murphy told Variety. “It’s very interesting that people become so inflammatory.”

However, he pointed out that the public microscope the photos were immediately put under likely paralleled the one Bessette experienced in real life.

“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,” Murphy noted. “They’re doing to our Carolyn, what they did to the real-life Carolyn. It’s not fair.”

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In addition to Kelly and Pidgeon, American Love Story will star Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette and Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein.

American Love Story is the latest in Murphy’s American Story anthology series, following American Horror Story, American Crime Story and American Sports Story. A release date for the series has yet to be announced.