RBG Award Gala Canceled After Justice’s Family, Barbra Streisand Denounce Honorees

An award named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg that was set to be given to Elon Musk and Rubert Murdoch has been cancelled.

On Monday, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation announced that it would be canceling its awards gala this year after Barbra Streisand — who was awarded the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award last year — and the late justice’s family denounced the organization over this year’s recipients.

“This year we selected leaders in different fields. We honored men for the first time. We thought RBG’s teachings regarding equality should be practiced. We did not consider politics,” Julie Opperman, the chairperson of the org, said in a statement. “Instead, we focused on leaders, who, in their own way, have made significant contributions to society.”

Opperman continued, “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 honor her leadership. And, 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.”

In 2019, Ginsburg helped establish the award with the Opperman Foundation to celebrate “women who exemplify human qualities of empathy and humility.” The organization later opened the award to men, renaming the trophy as the Leadership Award while claiming to aim for gender equality.

Four of the five recipients were men this year. Along with Musk and Murdoch, this year’s awardees had included Sylvester Stallone, Michael Milken, and the only woman nominee: Martha Stewart.

Hours before the cancelation, Streisand wrote on Instagram that she was “proud” to receive the award from Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year because of the justices’ “commitment to democratic values, especially women’s rights,” but shared her discontent with this year’s honorees.

“That’s why I join the Ginsburg family in condemning the choice of honorees this year,” Streisand wrote, although she did not name the recipients. “I had the privilege of meeting Justice Ginsburg on several occasions and I strongly doubt she would approve of these awardees.”

“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,” said RBG’s daughter Jane Ginsburg in a statement to the New York Times, describing the choice in this year’s awardees “an affront to the memory of our mother.”

Opperman previously told the publication that Ginsburg fought “for everyone” and they wanted to “honor both women and men who have changed the world by doing what they do best.”

Shana Knizhnik, the author of Notorious RBG, said that honoring Musk and his “anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ sentiments” and Murdoch, who “has used his immense power to undermine democracy,” dishonors Ginsburg’s legacy.

This story was updated on March 18 at 7:40 pm E.T. to include news of the gala’s cancelation.