Since he was 22, Andrew Ginsburg has been inundated with comments that he resembles the late John F. Kennedy Jr.
Now 46, he says those comparisons have reached a new high, fueled by the spotlight on JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, in the popular new FX series “Love Story.”
The show, which chronicles the whirlwind romance of the couple and the leadup to their tragic death in a plane crash on July 16, 1999, has resulted in a wave of public fascination and a sprouting of look-alike competitions in cities across the country.
The volley of comments, which Ginsburg has fielded from friends and clients of his personal training business in recent weeks, didn’t amount to much for the Southport, Connecticut, resident and married father of three children, ages 8, 6 and 4.
Yes, their appearance, voices and fitness regimens are similar. But there was a crucial difference.
“He was Catholic. I’m Jewish. I married a Jew. He married a goy,” Ginsburg joked, using the Yiddish word for non-Jew.
But Ginsburg found the comparisons impossible to ignore after his sister sent him a link to a JFK Jr. look-alike competition in New York City with a message: “You have got to do this.”
Ginsburg said that he initially dismissed the idea, lamenting that he was “too old for stuff like this” and had no desire to “go into the city on a Sunday night to compete against Gen Z and millennials.”
Yet after some deliberation, Ginsburg decided he “might as well” given his longtime history of comparisons with the late son of President John F. Kennedy.
A Cedarhurst, New York, native where he grew up going to the Conservative synagogue Temple Beth El, Ginsburg has charted a uniquely eclectic path. He’s been a professional comedian, a seven-time bodybuilding champion and, most recently, has authored two children’s books, “Critter Caravan” and “The Colors of My Sky,” which is slated to be released next month.
“I retired from that, the shoes didn’t fit anymore,” Ginsburg said of his former comedy days. “Comedy shows happen at 7:30, 8 o’clock, and that’s when ‘book party’ with my kids happens. And I’m not going to go tell jokes to strangers when I could read books to my kids.”
After deliberating between wearing a navy pinstripe suit or bike shorts, two outfits that were hallmarks of the late Kennedy’s wardrobe, over the past week, Ginsburg said that he went with the iconic suit and boarded a train for New York City Sunday night.
After arriving at the competition, hosted by the dating app Bumble and clothing brand Express at The Parkgate bar in the West Village, Ginsburg said he was “nervous” until he saw his nine fellow competitors, saying he was “the only one with a resemblance.”
“I saw the rest of the contestants, and I’m like, I have a good shot, because it was really like frat boys with backwards hats and other guys with aviator sunglasses and a nice suit, but nobody really resembled him,” said Ginsburg.
Ginsburg took first place in the competition, winning two gift cards and a Kangol hat, a signature piece of the late Kennedy’s wardrobe. Ginsburg said that he has since worn the hat on dog walks and promised his kids he’d use the gift cards to buy them toys.
For Ginsberg, the win was similar to his experiences at bodybuilding competitions, where he is often one of the only Jewish entrants.
“I really felt like the Jew won because none of the other guys were Jewish,” Ginsberg said. “That’s a big similarity with the body building, it would always be like ‘Anthony Giovanni, Louis Ramos, Andrew Ginsburg.’ Comedy, not so much, but the bodybuilding and the JFK Jr. contest, I was definitely an anomaly.”
Still, Ginsburg said he couldn’t help but see the humor in the whole experience.
“I thought the whole thing, everything about it was funny,” Ginsburg said. “From my age, to my plot in life as a father of three, to being Jewish, like all the factors were wrong for the contest, but it turned out to be right.”
After earning his title, Ginsburg said that one of his comedy industry friends, Lisa Lampanelli, gave him a new nickname: “Jew-FK Jr.”
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