The band gave no reason for skipping Saturday's Los Angeles ceremony, joining Oasis among the absent inductees.
Sade will not attend their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in person. On Tuesday, November 10, the English group said it would not make an in-person appearance at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, the venue for Saturday's ceremony. Oasis, also an inductee this year, had been reported as a no-show a day earlier.
The band apologised in a statement posted on their website. "Sorry we can't be there in person to celebrate with the other artists," it said.
The band went on to address the absence itself:
"Please know that our absence takes nothing away from how much this recognition means to us."
Sade described the honour as "both a gift and a timely reminder to give thanks", and thanked the people who voted for them and "every single person who lets our music into their lives". They said they were "indebted to the ones who've been with us on this road to get here".
The statement also thanked the band's longtime manager and closed with a tribute to producer Mike Pela, who died after a sudden illness in 2022. The band calls him its "fifth Sade". "This is as much yours as ours Mike forever our soul mate," they wrote.
The band did not say why they will be absent. Lead singer Sade Adu's representative told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she will not attend, and AP reports that many fans had hoped the group would take the stage together for the first time since 2011.
Oasis are also skipping the ceremony. Rolling Stone reported on Monday that they would not attend or perform, and Noel Gallagher will play a solo set at Goldie's EFG Jazz Festival at London's Royal Festival Hall that day instead. Oasis's lead singer Liam Gallagher, responding to a disappointed fan on X, said it was too far to be going for the night and that he got sh-t to do.
Sade will be inducted in the performer category, sharing the list with Wu-Tang Clan, Luther Vandross, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Iron Maiden, Billy Idol and Phil Collins. AP reports that Idol plans to play, that Iron Maiden are on tour in Australia and will not appear, and that Collins is likely to appear but not play.
The class has a Nigerian link beyond Sade Adu, who was born in Nigeria and raised in England. Fela Kuti, the Nigerian saxophonist, bandleader and activist who died in 1997 at age 58, is also among the 2026 honorees, and AP reports he becomes the first African-born artist to enter the Hall of Fame.
An edited version of the ceremony airs on ABC and Disney+ in December, AP reports.
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