Alanis Morissette Drops Out of Rock Hall Performance Due to Misogyny

Rehearsals went as normal and Morissette was on all of the in-house schedules. According to a post made on her Instagram story, it appears that something occurred with the production team. She cites being in an industry "rife with an overarching anti-woman sentiment" as the reason for her frustration.

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She further goes on to say that she has "tolerated a lot of condescension and disrespectfulness, reduction, dismissiveness, contract-breaching, unsupportiveness, exploitation and psychological violence (and more)" throughout her career.

"I have had countless incredible experiences with production teams with all genders throughout my life," she further goes on to say, fueling rumors something may have happened backstage. "There is nothing better than a team of diverse people coming together with one mission."

According to Variety, several sources claim Morissette "struggled with the song" during rehearsals which eventually led to her walking out. Such rumors Morissette alludes to when she addressed the "misinformed rumblings" about what spurred her walk-out. The audience was unaware that she was scheduled to perform.

Morissette made sure to put the spotlight on the women who performed at the ceremony, saying she adored "Carly Simon and Olivia Rodrigo and Dolly Parton and Janet Jackson and Pat Benatar and Sheryl Crow and Pink and Brandi Carlile and Sara Bareilles — and all the amazing people and artists who were there".

Candidates for the prestigious recognition are eligible when they reach the 25th anniversary of their first commercial release. As of 2020, only 8% of inductees were women. Several previous inductees such as Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks have called out the Rock Hall for failing to recognize more women. In response, CEO Joel Peresman said, "We're trying to make this as gender-neutral as possible and just look at as: the criteria of being inducted is quality of work. And if it's male or female ... that's the criteria."

Pat Benetar, Eurythmics (which has Annie Lennox), Dolly Parton and Carly Simon were the women inducted from the performer category for this year's ceremony. Elizabeth Cotton was one of two to receive the Early Influence Award, and Sylvia Robinson received the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Photo courtesy of John Salangsang/BFA