Today on 107.5 Dave FM, near the start of the Craig Fee Show, I heard those opening chords to “Detroit Rock City”.  Then, I heard Craig say, “No, no, no.  I will not play this band today.”  He then cut directly into “A Lil’ Ain’t Enough” by David Lee Roth.

There are Kiss boycotts happening right now on radio stations all over the world.

Gene Simmons is not a stupid man.  Nor, do I believe, is he a bad man.  The work he has done for veterans and other causes has been admirable.  He’s also known for opening his big yap and spouting his personal politics to anyone who will listen.  When Gene said this, I simply could not believe it:

“Drug addicts and alcoholics are always, ‘The world is a harsh place.’ My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don’t want to hear f**k all about ‘the world as a harsh place.’ She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, ‘I’m depressed, I live in Seattle.’ F**k you, then kill yourself.

“I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. I’m the guy who says ‘Jump!’ when there’s a guy on top of a building who says, ‘That’s it, I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to jump.’ Are you kidding? Why are you announcing it? Shut the f**k up, have some dignity and jump! You’ve got the crowd.”

Hot on the heels of the suicide of the much-beloved Robin Williams, Simmons’ carelessness was shocking to me. Nikki Sixx called him out on it, and said, “What if somebody heard those words and did kill themselves, Gene?”

Today Gene offered up an apology of sorts.

“To the extent my comments reported by the media speak of depression, I was wrong and in the spur of the moment made remarks that in hindsight were made without regard for those who truly suffer the struggles of depression…I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments. I recognize that depression is very serious and very sad when it happens to anyone, especially loved ones. I deeply support and am empathetic to anyone suffering from any disease, especially depression.”

I have been a member of the Kiss Army since 1985.  I have always loved their music, and always will.  I realized a long time ago, probably since the mid-90’s, that Gene Simmons is an asshole.  He even named his solo album Asshole.  We all know that Gene spouts crap about anything and everything, as is his right.  Just like it’s my right to call him out on it.

Gene, to this day depression comes with a huge stigma.  Some don’t recognize it as an illness.  Some think “just cheer up,” is the solution.  Sadly, some in the medical field don’t even understand depression, the pain it can cause (both emotional and physical) and how it can devastate a life.   I hope that you learned a valuable lesson from this Gene.  I hope you choose to learn more about depression and mental illness.  After all, next it could be your son Nick, or your daughter Sophie, who fall ill with an awful mental illness that people don’t fully understand.  It can happen to anyone regardless of who they are, or how hard they work, or how much success they have.  I hope, Gene, that you will treat everyone who suffers from these terrible illnesses with the same compassion that I expect you would treat Nick and Sophie with.

I still love Kiss.  But Gene, you named that solo album correctly, because you’ve acted like a total asshole.