It’s been 16 years since the last White Stripes studio album, and there are still people out there taking shots at Meg White’s drumming.

Journalist Lachlan Markay started a trending topic on Twitter with his now-deleted tweet that said, “The tragedy of The White Stripes is how great they would have been with a half decent drummer.” He added, “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 [crappy] percussion.”

The tweet got thousands of negative responses and had high profile drummers like Questlove coming to Meg White’s defense.

Jack White’s second ex-wife, Karen Elson, retweeted a defense of Meg that said “Meg White is such a bad-ass goddess of a woman that Jack Gillis took HER surname when they married.” Elson added, “Not only is Meg White a fantastic drummer, Jack also said the White Stripes would be nothing without her. To the journalist who dissed her, keep my ex husband’s ex wife name out of your mouth.”

After deleting his initial tweet, Markay wrote, “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.” he added, “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 crap, I am sorry to have fed that as well.”

Jack White had what seems to be the final word on the whole controversy, posting a photo of Meg playing on his Instagram and writing a lengthy poem that included the line, “To be born in another time, any era but our own would’ve been fine.100 years from now, 1000 years from now, some other distant, different, time. One without demons, cowards and vampires out for blood, one with the positive inspiration to foster what is good.”