The April 8 ceremony at New York's Barclays Center will honor most of the group's first three lineups, including Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Rod Evans, Roger Glover, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

"Putting the past shenanigans to one side, the induction is not - in clear fact - for Deep Purple," writes Gillan on his website. "It is an arbitrary selection of past members, which excludes Steve Morse and Don Airey; both of whom have been with the living breathing DP for a very long time."

Morse has been the group's guitarist since 1994 while keyboardist Airey joined the lineup following the 2001 retirement of founding member Jon Lord.

"Obviously this is very silly," Gillan continues, "and so my response is quite simple: 'Thank you very much'. "And what a coincidence," the singer adds, "This morning I got an invitation to a wedding from some dear old friends. Unfortunately my family was not invited and they said that I would be required to sit next to my ex (we divorced decades ago) at the wedding feast. They were shocked when I called to thank them and decline the invitation."