1.e4 has more ways to equalise which have been worked out fairly completely.
Why GM's avoid e4?
Because they want to avoid drawish lines like the Ruy lopez marshall attack, petrov's defense, berlin.

If you don't wanna play the Berlin then white can avoid it with d3 or just play the Scotch or Italian :P
Firstly, don't slam me for saying that there are GM's that play e4 (and those that play both). I simply have noticed that espeically at the highest levels, most GM's and Super-GM's generally start with 1. d4, or 1. Nf3 (with transposition usually to d4 lines). Has anybody else noticed, or possibly have an explanation for this?