A political reporter fashioned himself a music critic and bashed The White Stripes’ drummer. It did not go well.
Working our way backwards, Jack White has long maintained that he built The White Stripes around Meg White. Hell, they got married, HE took HER surname, and they kept the band going for YEARS after their divorce. And, yes, they weirdly pretended to be siblings the entire time. That story is almost as remarkable as the music they made together across six albums that spanned eight years. Here’s what he said about Meg following the criticism.
That gorgeous poem and the legions of fans that came to Meg’s defense were spurred on by this tweet.
Lachlan Markay has since deleted the tweet, apologized, and locked down his Twitter. In today’s climate, I’m sure more than a few political journalists have to lock down their social media on occasion. But for tweeting about music? This might be a new one. Here’s what he said to try and make things right.
By now you’ve probably seen an ill-advised (and since-deleted) tweet I sent out yesterday about the White Stripes and Meg White. It was an over-the-top take on TWS and White as a drummer, and was, let’s face it, just truly awful in every way. Petty, obnoxious, just plain wrong. I don’t know if Meg White herself saw that tweet. I hope not, because I imagine it wouldn’t feel great to see a stranger dumping on you like that. So to Meg White: I am sorry. Really. And to women in the music business generally, who I think are disproportionately subject to this sort of shit, I am sorry to have fed that as well. I’m really going to try to be more thoughtful in the future, both on here and off. I’ve been thinking to myself as all this—again, completely justified—hate comes in over the last 24 hours: why did I actually write that? It’s not what I really think, and I like to think I’m not the asshole it made me out to be, or at least I try not to be. I think the answer, in part, is that sort of vicious sniping is something that we—us online folks—tend to reward with eyes and clicks. And I think I got caught up in that implicit incentive structure with a needlessly inflammatory, downright mean, and most importantly false take.
The White Stripes are currently nominees for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame class of 2023, and in their first year of eligibility to boot.
Why does Meg White get so much hate for her musical skills? Is the criticism justified? Is it just another symptom of the misogyny that dominated the rock world for so long? What do you think?
