Carlos Flores, 32, hasn’t seen “Love Story,” the new FX series that dramatizes the treacherous relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in the 1990s.
But Flores’ mom and best friend have always said he looks like “John-John.” So when he heard there would be a JFK Jr. lookalike contest at Fort Mason on Saturday afternoon, he suited up, slicked back his hair and put on some shades.
Some of the young women who came to observe the contest hadn’t seen the show either. But that didn’t really matter.
“Let’s be honest, this is mostly females who want to watch really hot dudes,” said Rahul Bonnerjee, 35, who was dragged to the event by his Kennedy-obsessed girlfriend, Divya Bahl.
“It’s not untrue,” Bahl admitted.
By the time the contest got underway, more than a hundred people who happened to be hanging out in the park that day hooted as the seven contestants made their case with road bikes and preppy sweaters. Only a few seemed old enough to have actually known about Kennedy Jr. and Bessette’s relationship when it was happening.
St. Patrick’s Day celebrators joined in on the action. | Source: Photo by Brooke Harrison
Alex Intriago, the organizer of the event, agrees that JFK Jr. was an “objectively good-looking” man. But, she said, what’s more interesting is his “aura.”
“He tried to separate himself from his lineage and really ensure he was being true to himself,” she said.
“You have these expectations set on you, and you’re trying to figure out how to balance your own desires with the pressure to live up to that image.”
Fernando Delgado, a 29-year-old head of growth at an AI company, ended up winning the competition — and the $400 prize.
While his backwards Kangol flat cap and tanned skin may have put him over the edge, Haley Frederking, a 25-year-old who works in marketing (and who actually watches the show), said her boyfriend’s performance was grounded in reality.
A couple of the contestants brought their road bikes for good measure. | Source: Photo by Brooke Harrison
“He’s happiest when he’s on his bike and with his lady,” she said. “He tried to be corporate — but was born to be granola.”
Kennedy Jr. and Bessette died in a tragic plane crash in 1999, so they aren’t around to offer a hot take on their second run as cultural sensations.
Still, the show has caught a lot of flak from those who knew the couple, including actress Daryl Hannah. She recently wrote in the New York Times (opens in new tab) that the creators were wrong to depict her as a foil to Bessette for dramatic purposes — Kennedy Jr.’s crazy ex-girlfriend who loves cocaine, plants negative stories in the press, and compares Jackie Onassis to a four-legged animal.
“Many people believe what they see on TV and do not distinguish between dramatization and documented fact — and the impact is not abstract,” Hannah wrote. “In a digital era, entertainment often becomes a collective memory. Real names are not fictional tools. They belong to real lives.”
Ryan Fritz, 29, made his case by promoting his shared love of nature. | Source: Photo by Brooke Harrison
As the show leans into nostalgia and catharsis for women exhausted by dating apps — and disillusioned by the incurious and emotionally unavailable man with an ex he told you not to worry about — it offers viewers a world that never really existed, and never really could.
The tension in the show lies not in the attraction Kennedy Jr. and Bessette feel for one another, which is immediate, but in the sacrifice it requires. By dating and then marrying Kennedy Jr., Bessette gives up any semblance of a private life — a trade-off she is wary of but ultimately accepts. Paparazzi bombard her wherever she goes, and she is no longer judged in the world of business by her merits, but by her association with the man in her life.
As guys across the country begin to realize (opens in new tab) that imitating John-John’s laid-back vibe might appeal to women, some that The Standard spoke to at the event said that, for these very reasons, they wouldn’t actually have wanted to marry JFK Jr.
Ironically, the look-alike contest only reinforced their aversion to celebrity. As the crowd fawned over men imitating John-John, the women who actually loved him still can’t escape his shadow.