US foundation cancels RBG awards for Musk and Murdoch after backlash

A foundation which stirred controversy by planning to give awards named for the late US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch said on Monday it had canceled the ceremony.

“While we believe each of the honorees is worthy of our respect for their leadership and their notable contributions, the foundation has decided that the planned ceremony in April 2024 will be canceled,” Julie Opperman, chair of the Dwight D Opperman Foundation, said in a statement.

Opperman added: “Justice Ginsburg was known for her civility. It is important to note that the last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of RBG. Our purpose was only to remember her and to honour her leadership.”

The move came a day after James Ginsburg, the late justice’s son, called the decision to give Musk and Murdoch RBG awards – originally known as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership awards – a “desecration” of the memory of his mother.

“I don’t want to speak to what our other plans might be if the foundation doesn’t see the wisdom of desisting and ending this desecration of my mother’s memory,” Ginsburg told CNN on Sunday. “But I will say that we will continue to fight this.”

The second woman appointed to the supreme court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent 27 years as a justice, a hero to American liberals. She died aged 87 in September 2020 and was replaced on the court by Amy Coney Barrett, the third rightwinger installed by Donald Trump.

Ginsburg helped establish the award in her name, saying it would honour “women who have strived to make the world a better place for generations that follow their own, women who exemplify human qualities of empathy and humility, and who care about the dignity and well being of all who dwell on planet Earth”.

Previous recipients included Barbra Streisand and Queen Elizabeth II.

Last week, the Opperman Foundation announced a five-strong list it said was chosen from “a slate of dozens of diverse nominees” but which included just one woman.

That was Martha Stewart, 82, the lifestyle entrepreneur (and member of the first RBG award committee) who in 2004 was convicted of fraud and jailed for five months.

The men were:

• Musk, 52, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter/X, through which he has taken increasingly rightwing political stances;

• Murdoch, 93 and the rightwing media baron owner of Fox News;

• Michael Milken, 77, a financier jailed on securities charges, pardoned by Trump and now a philanthropist;

• And Sylvester Stallone, 77, the star of films including the Rocky saga and the violent Rambo franchise.

The list prompted protests including a widely publicised letter to the foundation from a former Ginsburg clerk. Jane C Ginsburg, the justice’s daughter and a Columbia University law professor, called it “an affront to the memory of our mother”.

James Ginsburg, founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical music label, told CNN he did not have “a clue” how the honorees were decided.

He said: “The original purpose of the award was … to recognise an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice.

“And whether you want to discuss the wisdom of opening up that to men or not is one thing, but I think it would be hard pressed to apply that description to people like Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch. And that’s why the family is so upset … and her clerk family …

“I’ve been contacted by people I know and people even that I don’t know about this, saying how upset they are. My sister even got a threatening letter and one of the things we want to do here is set the record straight. The family had nothing to do with this. We were not consulted. We are vehemently against this appropriation of our mother’s name and this insult to her legacy.”

On announcing the new list, the Opperman Foundation said it wanted to honour men because Ruth Bader Ginsburg “fought not only for women but for everyone”.

On cancelling the awards, the foundation said that though Ginsburg’s “concept of equality for women was very controversial for most of her life”, it did “not intend to enter the fray” and was “not interested in creating controversy [or] debate about whether particular honorees are worthy or not”.

Saying it would “reconsider its mission and make a judgment about how or whether to proceed”, the foundation said it would not comment further.

James Ginsburg said his mother would have been “appalled” by honours given in her name to “people who pretty much stand against all the things that she stood for in terms of trying to … make the world a better place for people striving for equality and for a more inclusive world where everybody is treated with respect.

“… We can discuss the wisdom of each [nominee], but the two that obviously stand out here are Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch.

“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.”

The two men did not comment.