Gene Simmons has hit out at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for not inducting Rage Against The Machine and Iron Maiden this year.

The Hall announced its 2021 inductees earlier this week, with Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner, Todd Rundgren, The Go-Go’s and Carole King all entering this year.

Among the artists who were nominated for induction this year were Rage Against The Machine and Iron Maiden, but their failure to make the Hall’s final cut for 2021 has irked KISS vocalist and bassist Simmons.

“RR Hall of Fame is a sham not to include Maiden,” he wrote in a tweet yesterday (May 13). “Disgusting!”

RR Hall of Fame is a sham not to include Maiden. Disgusting! https://t.co/WbNYr42lBI

— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) May 13, 2021

Simmons then tweeted about Rage’s omission, writing: “Sadly, Rage Against The Machine shut out of RR Hall of Fame. The Hall should be ashamed of themselves….”

Sadly, Rage Against The Machine shut out of RR Hall of Fame. The Hall should be ashamed of themselves….

— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) May 13, 2021

Back in 2018 Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson derided the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame as “an utter and complete load of bollocks”.

“It’s run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock and roll if it hit them in the face,” he said at the time.

In an interview earlier this week Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame CEO Greg Harris defended the Hall’s lack of heavy metal inductees.

“It’s an interesting one, because we do [celebrate metal],” Harris told Audacy Music during a recent interview. “We celebrate all forms of rock’n’roll… We nominated Maiden, Judas Priest have been nominated, we put Def Leppard in.”