Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s family announced this week that a ceremony to present Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch with an award in the late Supreme Court justice’s name has been canceled.
Last week, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation announced that “five iconic individuals” will be honored with the RBG Leadership Award at a ceremony held at the Library of Congress on April 13. Among them were Musk, the controversial founder of Tesla and CEO of SpaceX, and Murdoch, the longtime chairman of Fox and News Corps.
Musk should have been honored for his entrepreneurship, while Murdoch should have been honored for his career as a media mogul. Others to receive the award include Sylvester Stallone, Martha Stewart and financier Michael Milken.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court justice and liberal icon, dies at 87
The news that Musk and Murdoch would be among this year’s honorees enraged their critics, including members of Ginsburg’s family. RBG’s son, James Ginsburg, told CNN, “When you think about trying to create a more just society, which of course was Mom’s ultimate goal, those are probably the last names that would come to mind.”
Barbra Streisand, who previously won the award, also criticized the move, sharing an Instagram post that read: “I join the Ginsburg family in condemning the selection of this year’s honoree. I have had the privilege of meeting Justice Ginsburg on several occasions, and I strongly suspect that would she approve these awards.”
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at the Georgetown Law Center on September 12, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Tom Brenner/Stringer/Getty Images
In a statement released Monday, the Opperman Foundation announced it had canceled the award ceremony entirely after the outcry.
In its statement, the foundation said: “Our purpose was only to remember [Ginsburg] and honor her leadership. And while we believe that each of the honorees is worthy of our respect for their leadership and their significant contributions, the Foundation has decided that the planned ceremony in April 2024 will be canceled.”
The statement added: “The last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of RBG.”
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Ginsburg was the second woman and the first Jew appointed to the Supreme Court, becoming an icon to fans of the court’s liberal wing in her later years. She died in September 2020 at the age of 87.
Musk, meanwhile, has courted controversy in recent years, particularly since he bought the social media platform Twitter, which he renamed X. He used his platform to support Republican candidates and promote conspiracy theories, and in late 2023 he was convicted of anti-Semitic comments.
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Murdoch is also no stranger to controversy, having overseen Fox News during the 2020 election and the subsequent $1.6 billion lawsuit brought against the network by voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems, which was the subject of widespread election fraud conspiracies and other irregularities that followed. presidential elections.
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Source: HIS Education