Gene Simmons Mocks Kiss Bandmates During Press Tour Interview

Gene Simmons didn’t have the nicest things to say about his ex-Kiss bandmates during a panel about his new show, 4th and Loud, at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Friday.

Simmons may not be best known for his sense of diplomacy, having made some increasingly controversial comments and statements in recent years. Fortunately, the Kiss star took the stage with fellow bandmate Paul Stanley, who is a little more diplomatic.

And it’s just as well that Stanley was up on stage with Gene Simmons as, when he was asked why only the two remain in the band, the latter was less than kind:

“Why would you dump your best friend who became a crackhead and a loser? We love and respect those guys for what they did at the outset of the band, and they succumbed to the cliches of cliches, which is drugs and alcohol. Are you kidding me? If you’re going to pass the ball to your teammate and they can’t see where the goal is, they’ve got to leave.”

What makes Simmons’ comments even less nice is the fact that former Kiss members, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss have both been very open and frank about their struggles with drug addiction over the years.

Although Stanley did add that just because original members of the band were there from the start that didn’t assure them of a lifetime membership: “if you can no longer uphold your end, ” he said.

To that, Simmons added: “Do you have a car? You ever get a flat tire? What’d you do, the whole car stopped because one flat tire decided the car shouldn’t run? Or did you change the flat tire?” making his point loud and clear.

As an additional dig at his old friend Michael Vick, in keeping with Gene Simmons’ controversial run of comments, he said jokingly that he wanted Tim Tebow to join Kiss because he has “good values” and “doesn’t torture dogs” — a reference to Michael Vick.