An awards ceremony where Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, and others were set to be given an award in the name of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg won’t go ahead as scheduled, the foundation running the event announced Monday, after backlash from the late Supreme Court justice’s family.
Julie Opperman, chair of the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, said in a statement that the “planned ceremony in April 2024 will be canceled” and addressed the criticisms at this year’s list of recipients, which also included entrepreneur Martha Stewart, actor Sylvester Stallone, and Michael Milken, the financier convicted on felony fraud counts and later pardoned by Donald Trump. “Keeping in mind that our goal is only to do good, the Foundation is not interested in creating controversy,” Opperman wrote in the statement.
The honor, originally named the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award when it was first given out four years ago, included men on its slate of recipients for the first time this year. When the list of 2024 honorees was announced last week, Ginsburg’s daughter slammed the selections as “an affront to the memory of our mother.”
“The justice’s family wish to make clear that they do not support using their mother’s name to celebrate this year’s slate of awardees, and that the justice’s family has no affiliation with and does not endorse these awards,” Jane Ginsburg said, according to The New York Times. Former colleagues of the late justice and even Barbra Streisand, who accepted the award last year, joined the family in expressing condemnation.
In her statement scrapping the awards ceremony, Julie Opperman said the foundation named after her late husband is “not interested in generating a debate about whether particular honorees are worthy or not.” “And while Justice Ginsburg’s concept of EQUALITY for women was very controversial for most of her life, the Foundation does not intend to enter the fray,” she added.
Opperman also said “the last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of RBG.” “Our purpose was only to remember her and to honor her leadership,” she continued, maintaining that the foundation nevertheless believes “each of the honorees is worthy of our respect for their leadership and their notable contributions.”
“Over the next several months the Foundation will reconsider its mission and make a judgment about how or whether to proceed in the future,” the statement read. “We will consider whether there is a way forward that can bring honor and joy to the process with a minimum amount of controversy.”
