Axl Rose declines induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, says he won’t attend ceremony to avoid ‘awkward situation’
The rocker's band could be considered the headliner scheduled to be inducted on Saturday

There’ll be no Guns N’ Roses reunion at this weekend’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Axl Rose says he won’t attend and is declining his induction into the hall.

The seminal band, which ruled the rock world for years before disbanding in acrimony in 1996, could be considered the headliner among the acts scheduled to be inducted in Cleveland on Saturday.

But in a letter to the hall released Wednesday, Rose said he won’t be at the ceremony and would avoid what would have likely been a “complicated or awkward situation.”

“I won’t be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N’ Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,” he said in the letter. “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.”

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, there was some hope that the band might reunite at the hall, a reunion that has been dreamt about by many fans from almost the moment it split.

Even Slash seemed to give a little hope to that idea in an interview with The Associated Press last month: “I have no idea what’s going to happen on that day. ... 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.

He added: “So let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move on. People get divorced. Life doesn’t owe you your own personal happy ending especially at another’s, or in this case several others’, expense.”

The hall didn’t immediately return requests for comment. A rep for Slash said he would still attend Saturday but had no further comment. Green Day is scheduled to induct the group.

Rose’s bitterness is a cloud over the band’s induction, but in some ways fitting, given the dysfunction that marked the group as it rose to become one of the world’s most popular acts in the 1980s and 1990s with hits like “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “November Rain.”

Besides Guns N’ Roses, inductees include the hip-hop trio Beastie Boys; rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro; Donovan; and influential British rock group The Small Faces/The Faces, which included Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.