• Home
• /
• Entertainment

WHO SAYS BOO?

GUNS N’ ROSES frontman Axl Rose said he was “humbled, (and) blown away” by the support he had received from media and fans over his decision to decline his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and snub last weekend’s ceremony.

Rose said in a letter on the band’s official website that he was relieved at the unexpected “overwhelmingly positive response and public support” for his decision.

Some members of the 6,000-strong audience at Saturday’s ceremony in Cleveland booed when Rose’s name was mentioned as other members of the Guns N’Roses went up to accept their award.

The mercurial lead singer of the band explained that his refusal to accept his honour was rooted in confusion over the induction process, despite making efforts to inform himself. Rose was the first artist to publicly snub the honour since the surviving members of the Sex Pistols in 2006.

“I still don’t know or exactly understand what the Hall is or why it makes money, where the money goes, who chooses the voters and why anyone or this board decides who, out of all the artists in the world that have contributed to this genre, officially ‘rock’ enough to be in the Hall,” he wrote.

Rose had not clarified the motives behind his decision in an open letter released last week, other than to say he did not feel “wanted or respected.”

Rose congratulated the other artists who were inducted on Saturday and apologised to the city of Cleveland, where the Hall of Fame is based, “for not apologising to them beforehand for not attending.”