Meg White’s Drumming Defended by Karen Elson, Jack White’s Other Ex-Wife
Meg White's drumming has been defended by Karen Elson, the other ex-wife of The White Stripes' Jack White. Elson also slammed the writer who earlier this week criticized Meg's musicianship in The White Stripes, the band in which she played with Jack until 2011.
The criticism set off a sweep of support for Meg.
"The tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would've been with a half decent drummer," former political reporter Lachlan Markay said in a tweet that has since been removed. "Yeah, yeah I've heard all the 'but it's a carefully crafted sound mannnn!' takes. I'm sorry Meg White was terrible and no band is better for having shitty percussion."
On top of the many fans and other musicians who roundly rejected Markay's notion, so did Elson, the English fashion model and singer-songwriter who was married to White from 2005 to 2013.
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"Not only is Meg White a fantastic drummer, Jack also said the White Stripes would be nothing without her," Elson fired back on Tuesday (March 14).
She continued, referencing last year's Will Smith–Chris Rock slapping incident, "To the journalist who dissed her, keep my ex husband's ex wife name out of your f*cking mouth. (Please and Thank You)"
Elson's remarks were attached to a tweet sharing some White Stripes trivia about the musical duo who were married from 1996 to 2000 but, early on, convinced the music press they were siblings. "Meg White is such a bad-ass goddess of a woman that Jack Gillis took *HER* surname when they married," it said.
Meg White Disser Apologizes
After the backlash, Markay apologized to Meg in further tweets. "I am sorry," he said. "Really."
He added, "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."
The writer mused, "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."