Mere hours after a damning Instagram statement from Barbra Streisand amid piling criticism from a number of figures, including the Ginsburg family, the ceremony that would have honored Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch in the late justice’s name has been canceled.
“The last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of RBG,” said Julie Opperman, chair of the Opperman Foundation, in a statement on Monday (March 18).
Announced via a press release last week (March 13), this year’s honorees for the foundation’s 2024 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award included Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, Martha Stewart, Sylvester Stallone and Michael Milken.
Swift backlash ensued, with members of the Ginsburg family — including the late justice’s Grammy-winning son James Ginsburg — and former RBG clerk Trevor Morrison calling on the Opperman Foundation to remove her name from the award. “When you think of trying to create a more just society, which of course was Mom’s ultimate goal, those are probably about the last names that would come to mind,” Ginsburg told CNN.
Late Monday afternoon, EGOT winner Barbra Streisand took to her official Instagram page to share a message condemning the choice of this year’s honorees. In a statement reflecting on receiving the honor from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year, the Grammy winner wrote, “Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor stand as two of the most respected women role models, and their commitment to democratic values, especially women’s rights, is unequaled.”
She continued, “That’s why I join the Ginsburg family in condemning the choice of honorees this year. I had the privilege of meeting Justice Ginsburg on several occasions, and I strongly doubt she would approve of these awardees.”
