Looks like Barbra Streisand‘s complaints are ringing loud and clear — Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch will not be adding the RBG Award to their trophy shelves after all.
In fact, the uproar over the pair snagging the prestigious leadership award named for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was so intense, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation decided to pull the plug on the entire ceremony.
ICYMI … Barbra, herself a former RBG Award recipient, didn’t hold back when she slammed the organization’s decision to honor the polarizing billionaire and the FOX Corp. founder.
Barbra took to IG to join forces with the Ginsburg family in denouncing this year’s honorees … saying she had the honor of rubbing elbows with RBG herself on multiple occasions, and she seriously doubts the late justice would give a nod to these particular awardees.
For those who don’t know, the Org rolled out the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award back in 2019, originally aimed at honoring accomplished women. But, in a move toward gender equality, they switched gears in 2020 and started including men in the mix.
The pendulum swung pretty far the other way this year with 4 out of the 5 honorees being men — billionaire philanthropist Michael Milken, actor Sylvester Stallone and Martha Stewart were to be honored along with Murdoch and Musk.
Barbra’s denouncement came hot on the heels of RBG’s daughter Jane speaking out, saying … “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.”
The backlash hit its peak when the foundation Chair, Julie Opperman, finally stepped up and announced the April ceremony was canceled… adding that offending RBG’s family and friends was the last thing they wanted to do.
Opperman also mentioned the foundation will take a step back to reconsider its mission and figure out how it wants to move forward in the future.