Cher Reverses Stance On Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction — But Not Without A Warning

The pop icon previously blasted the organization, saying she “wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars.”

Cher appears ready to turn back time when it comes to her previously stated disinterest in being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The pop icon told “Entertainment Tonight” this week that she plans to accept the honor at the induction ceremony, set to take place Oct. 19 in Cleveland, and will presumably mark the occasion with some playful jabs, too.

“I’m going to have some words to say,” she said. “I’m going to accept it as me.”

Last month, it was announced that Cher would be among this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Other members of the 2024 class include Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne and the Dave Matthews Band.

Cher’s latest remarks are a notable shift from December, when she lamented having never been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame while appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” to promote her holiday album, “Christmas.”

Clarkson pointed out that Cher’s latest single, “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” made her the first female solo artist with a No. 1 hit on a Billboard chart in each of the past seven decades.

In terms of chart success, that singular feat sets Cher apart from previous Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, including Madonna and Janet Jackson. But the legendary actor and singer told Clarkson that she wouldn’t be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame even if “they gave me a million dollars.”

“I’m never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves,” she added.

Cher’s criticism of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame can be traced back to 2010, when she told Vanity Fair that it “seems kind of rude” that she and Sonny Bono, her former husband and longtime collaborator, had yet to be inducted.

At the time, she said much of that resentment for the music-honoring organization stemmed from it not acknowledging Bono, who died in 1998.

“I have so much of everything that I want that those things don’t usually bother me,” Cher said. “It bothers me a little bit more because Sonny was a good writer, and we started something that no one else was doing.”

“We were weird hippies before there was a name for it, when the Beatles were wearing sweet little haircuts and round-collared suits. … We influenced a generation, and it’s like: What more do you want?” she added.