As you may have heard, Axl Rose put a rest to months of speculation yesterday (April 11) when he issued a rather sternly worded open letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame saying he would not be attending this weekend when Guns N’ Roses are honored — and requested that he not be inducted in absentia. Today, the Hall responded with a few words of its own.

And we do mean “a few words.” The Hall’s official response reads as follows: “We are sorry Axl will not be able to accept his Induction in person.” That seems sort of lazy, given that Axl churned out over 1,000 words in his letter, but we’ll cut them some slack; they are, after all, busy preparing for their biggest night of the year.

And, as a spokesperson for the Hall noted, there should be no shortage of former Guns in attendance on Saturday (April 14) when the band is inducted; Axl’s longtime public sparring partner and former guitarist Slash has repeatedly expressed his intention to be there, and ex-GNR bassist Duff McKagan will be in town, so someone with band ties should be able to take the podium and say a few words about the Guns legacy.

In any event, it looks to be a solid night of entertainment even without Axl on hand — the Hall added fellow inductees Red Hot Chili Peppers to the list of performers yesterday — and who knows? Axl could change his mind at the last minute and bum rush the stage, Soy Bomb style. Fingers crossed!

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