Gene Simmons Has Foot-in-Mouth, Ace Frehley Calls Him On It

Gene Simmons has perpetual foot-in-mouth disease and has a storied history of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. The latest episode involved remarks the KISS bassist said about people with depression, telling them, as the Inquisitr quoted, to go “kill themselves.” Gene Simmons apologized for the remarks and said they were made at the spur of the moment and taken slightly out of context.

Now KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has piped in, telling Simmons, via Billboard, “Hey Gene, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.” Frehley says that the comment is one that Gene Simmons used to flip to him all of the time in the 1970s whenever Ace did something stupid like wreck a car or drink too much.

Interestingly, despite the chastisement, Frehley says that there is no real bad blood between KISS bandmates. Ace says he could “go hang out” with Gene Simmons or any other KISS member without discomfort, as the KISS guitarist talked about his just-released solo album, Space Invader, which has met critical acclaim. It is Frehley’s sixth solo album to date.

Although most of the focus has been on remarks made about Gene Simmons, Ace also had things to say about another former KISS bandmate, Paul Stanley, making it clear that he thinks that Stanley’s mixing of politics with his celebrity is muddying the waters. Things like those that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are doing outside of music “muddy the waters,” Frehley said. As Music Times reported, Frehley said that Simmons and Stanley’s buying of an arena football team might be spreading them a little thing, chiding that maybe they should focus on their records a little more “and they’d be better.”

Although he has apologized, Gene Simmons continues to receive negativity about his off-the-cuff comments regarding depression and suicide. The comments, which likely would have gone unnoticed were it not for actor and comedian Robin Williams committing suicide after long suffering with depression, have caused Gene Simmons to delete his Twitter account, issue his apology, and then take cover. Apparently, Simmons plans to wait this one out.

Although the tactic will likely work, eventually, we can rest assured that Gene will eventually resurface and promptly put his foot into his mouth yet again. In the world of music, there are few characters as entertainingly brilliant at shooting themselves in the foot as is Gene Simmons.