Jon Blistein
Contact Jon Blistein by Email View all posts by Jon Blistein November 15, 2026 Add us as a Google Preferred Source
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Red Hot Chili Peppers, in their finest Rick Rubin wigs, performing at the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Getty Images for RRHOF The Red Hot Chili Peppers honored 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Musical Excellence Award recipient Rick Rubin by playing one of the biggest songs they made together, and dressing up like the legendary producer.
Taking the concept of “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” to its funniest possible conclusion, all four members of RHCP took the stage at Saturday night’s Induction Ceremony in Los Angeles wearing ludicrously big, bushy white beards and wigs. They also all sported some very Rubin-esque orange-tinted sunglasses, while drummer Chad Smith played a special drum kit with a portrait of Rubin emblazoned on his bass drum.
For the performance, the Chili Peppers ripped through “Give It Away,” off 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the first album Rubin produced for the band. (Since then, he’s produced all the band’s albums except 2016’s The Getaway, which Danger Mouse helmed.) Some technical difficulties with Flea’s bass caused an initial hiccup, but the band easily recovered after starting the song over, their fake beards bouncing wildly as they ran around the stage.
