Rose declines his induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

In a letter to the hall, band fans and “To Whom It May Concern,” Rose listed several reasons for not attending Saturday’s ceremony in Cleveland, including a feeling that the hall does not respect him. In declining his own induction, he added: “I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf.”

The hall said in a statement that it still plans to induct Rose with the rest of the group. “We are sorry he will not be able to accept his induction in person,” it said.

According to the rock hall only the Sex Pistols have declined induction before. Although Rose now fronts a reconstituted version of Guns N’ Roses that does not include former members Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan or Steven Adler, some held out hope that the band might reunite at the hall. Even Slash seemed to leave an opening for the possibility.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen on that day,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press last month. “It’s more like going into it with blinders on and just see what happens.” But Rose apparently was miffed by such talk. “There’s a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the actual realities,” he wrote.