CLEVELAND (CelebrityAccess) — The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2021, including Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go’s, JAY-Z, Foo Fighters, and Todd Rundgren, were officially inducted into the organization during a ceremony in Cleveland on Saturday night.
The 2021 class of twelve artists also included Kraftwerk, Charley Patton and Gil Scott-Heron for Early Influence, LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads for Musical Excellence, and Clarence Avant for the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
The gala, which included a full audience after a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, featured performances by the Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, Carole King, LL Cool J, Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera and the Go-Go’s, among others.
“Rock and roll is a magical thing that contains so many elements,” Paul McCartney told the audience at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse during the Foo Fighters induction. “It’s like all of the people we’ve heard tonight. I mean, it’s just unbelievable. I feel super-privileged to be here.”
The night also included appearances from the likes of former U.S. President Barak Obama, rapper Eminem, and Comedian Dave Chappelle who doubled down on the controversy surrounding seemingly transphobic comments made during a recent Netflix special.
Addressing the audience ahead of Jay-Z’s induction, Chappelle started out by saying, “I would like to apologize…” before pulling a bait and switch, adding, with a rakish grin for the camera “Nah..I’m just f**king with you.”
Rundgren was the only living artist who was inducted but did not perform during the ceremony on Saturday. Rundgren, instead, performed at The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center in Cleveland after deciding to skip the induction ceremony.
In an interview with TMZ last week, he said, “personally, I never cared much about the Hall of Fame so I never intended to go to any special effort, and it was always something my fans wanted more than I did.”
