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Gene Simmons Apologizes For Comments He Made About Prince’s Death … And So Does Paul Stanley

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 21:58 PST, May 10, 2016

Gene Simmons is admitting that the controversial comments he made about the death of Prince were inappropriate. The longtime Kiss bassist posted an apology to fans on Twitter, explaining that he did not express himself properly when he was talking about the sudden death of the music icon. Earlier this week, Gene Simmons was quoted as saying Prince’s death was “pathetic,” and he pointed to the late singer’s alleged history with prescription drugs.

In a written apology, Simmons explained that, during his lifetime in the music business, he has seen too many stars ruin their lives with drug abuse.

“I just got such s**t from my family for my big mouth again,” Simmons wrote. “I apologize — I have a long history of getting very angry at what drugs do to the families/friends of the addicts. I get angry at drug users because of my experience being around them coming up in the rock scene. In my experience, they’ve made my life, and the lives of their loved ones, difficult.”

Gene Simmons, who has stated that he has never been drunk or high in his life, also wrote that his views on drug addiction go back decades, and he admitted that it has been hard for him to “change with the times.”

“I was raised in a culture/crowd where drug addicts were written off as losers, and since that’s the narrative I grew up with, it’s been hard to change with the times,” Gene wrote. “Needless to say, I didn’t express myself properly here — I don’t shy away from controversy, and angry critics really don’t bother me at all. If I think I’m right, I’ll throw up a finger and dig my heels in and laugh. But this time, I was not. So, my apologies.”

Gene Simmons made headlines for his recent interview with Newsweek in which he compared Prince’s death to the more “tragic” death of David Bowie.

“Bowie was the most tragic of all because it was real sickness,” Simmons said. “All the other ones were a choice. [Prince’s] drugs killed him. What do you think, he died from a cold?”

Simmons, who previously praised Prince’s iconic career when talking to CNN right after the singer’s death, went on to say that Prince’s talent was beyond anyone else’s in the music industry. But he pointed to the Purple Rain singer’s alleged addiction to painkillers as the “pathetic” cause of death, despite the fact that the music legend’s cause of death has not been revealed.

“I think Prince was heads, hands, and feet above all the rest of them,” Simmons said. “I thought he left [Michael] Jackson in the dust. Prince was way beyond that. But how pathetic that he killed himself. Don’t kid yourself, that’s what he did. Slowly, I’ll grant you… but that’s what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death.”

After Gene Simmons made his controversial comments, his Kiss bandmate, Paul Stanley, took it upon himself to set the record straight on his own stance on Simmons’ comments. Stanley took to Twitter to slam Gene Simmons for his “cold clueless statements” and warned him that it is better to say nothing when you don’t have all of the facts.

Ir’s no surprise that Gene Simmons received an onslaught of backlash for his comments about Prince. Haters took to social media to slam the rock star for speaking out of turn.

While Gene Simmons often stands his ground when he makes a controversial statement, this time, he has realized that what he said was inappropriate and didn’t properly reflect his true feelings about the late legend. The apology is definitely one time that Gene Simmons did the right thing by opening his mouth.

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

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