On Saturday, April 14, the 27th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place, welcoming iconic musicians such as the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Donovan. However, as the public is well aware, there was one artist who rejected his invitation into the Hall of Fame this year: Guns N' Roses vocalist Axl Rose, who is now releasing an apology to fans.

The singer/songwriter published an explanation for his refusal to accept a place in the Cleveland institution last week. (You can read the full letter here.) Rose's decision was met with mixed reactions; some fans supported Rose's rationale, while some were upset by his behavior. Rose has since published a second letter on the Guns N' Roses website, which read:

""To: Cleveland, Ohio, Guns N' Roses Fans and everyone who's shown support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

I seriously didn't plan on or expect the overwhelmingly positive response and public support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. With such a generous outpouring of solidarity from fans, media outlets, writers and other artists, I'm truly humbled, blown away and unbelievably relieved! To be honest, I thought it would go the other way and was just hoping to weather the storm. As I said, I sincerely didn't want to disappoint anyone. It gets old being the outlaw even if ""it's only rock and roll"".

It took a lot of focus and soul searching to be sincere and informative while making a genuine effort to be somewhat diplomatic. We made, what I feel, are real efforts to learn about the Hall and the Board, spoke as I said with the president and various members, and though I inducted Elton John and Bernie Taupin in '94 saying something to the effect of ""I'm learning what the Hall's about...""

I still don't exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how 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?

This isn't an attack. These are genuine issues I don't have enough verified information on to have more than rough ideas. Certainly not enough information to make any judgments about.

I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!

Now that the smoke's cleared a little, any desperate, misguided attacks have been just that, a pathetic stab at gossip, some lame vindictiveness, the usual entitlement crap, he's obsessed, crazy, volatile, a hater. I once bought a homeless woman a slice of pizza who yelled at me she wanted soup. We got her the soup. You can get your own.

Again: HUGE thanks to the fans and to everyone for the incredible public support. My congratulations to the other artists inducted. And my apologies to the city and people of Cleveland, Ohio. I hope you'll forgive me and we hope to see you again soon!

Keep Rockin',

Axl

Unlike my open letter to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N' Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern this was written for GNR's official website, Facebook account and my personal twitter account and not intended as a press release. If anyone does choose to pick this up as has been done previously I'd appreciate if you'd run in full including this paragraph so as not to give a partial picture, have things taken out of context or to imply or inadvertently give the impression this was intended for other outlets.""

As far as anti-establishment rebellion goes, this has got to be one of the most polite instances of the sort. The remaining original Guns N' Roses band members — Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagin and Steven Adler — accepted the induction into the Hall of Fame and performed at the ceremony on April 14. Rose continues to perform with the present incarnation of Guns N' Roses. That is, if you can recognize him.

More:

Axl Rose Declines Induction to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Tupac's Hologram Appearance at Coachella Tops Festival's Highlights

Biggie's Death 15 Years Later: How to Honor The Icon

[Guns N' Roses]