Never cared for KISS, never cared about the band members, no big loss.

Why do so many people place so much importance in what celebrities say, anyway? What makes them the experts?

Sheesh.

Michelle on July 18, 2011 at 5:08 pm

He smoked a lot pot and did damage to his brain.

David on July 18, 2011 at 5:34 pm

The whole spread of Islam was a damned crusade itself. The destruction of other cultures…murder, slavery, piracy…rape. The Arabs romanticize that crap. But some mostly unsucessful incursions by christians…they never forget.

The Crusades began as a response to a plea from Byzantines (who still really called themselves ROmans) under threat from Islam. Of course, it backfired and the Crusaders, guided by greedy Geonoas and Venetians (trade rivals of Byzantium), sacked Constantinople.

Then they went on to the middle east, and there were a few more crusades…mostly a waste of time. The freaking Arab civilizations survived, but the Eastern Romans never really recovered and fell in the 15th century, with not a finger lifted by any European power to prevent it…and Europe was worse for it, as the Ottomans moved into the Balkans. The Greeks have more reason to bitch about the crusades than the Arabs.

So when can we expect an apology for all the murder, slavery, piracy and rape committed in Islam’s name by Muslim leaders?

Istanbul Ain't Constantinople on July 18, 2011 at 5:37 pm

Dimitri Ostrovski Never liked him still don’t, a man who has slept with thousands of woman abused narcotics to start and 50 years after his fathers death he wants us to belive that bad acting that he cares and by wearing a yamaka he’s a Jew! then they bleep out a word oviously the “F” word! some respect. He’s as trashy as they come a man worth billions and he father has a meager grave that looks like it not been even well kept. How about some $$ gene for the orphans of victims like the Fogel family or a million other causes if your such a great Jew and pro Israel. It easy I’m not Jewish but care more and if needed would fight for Israel, I don’t think there could be a worse JEW then you Gene!

Darrell Ostrovski on July 18, 2011 at 5:38 pm

Used to like his music and his show but after a little while I saw stuff I hated. Like his b.s. about B.O. He voted for him??? Dude built an empire and didn’t realize how sleazy B.O. was??? His arrogance, and all the stuff you just mentioned are enough to delete him from my dvr. I had a good laugh when he was stuck on the roof of his mansion for the night because the camera man wouldn’t let him use his cell. HOw good was that. What was with him being Catholic for the day to stand up at his friends baptism? Not cool. Idk. Typical Hollywood b.s.

samurai on July 18, 2011 at 6:05 pm

Gene Simmons had his day in the sun in the 70’s. He has been living off of that dying ember ever since.

Worry01 on July 18, 2011 at 6:08 pm

David, you’re wrong. Gene Simmons has NEVER taken drugs. He’s not into drugs or alcohol. Just wanted that fixed for the record.

DS, Bravo! A direct hit on ALL fronts. If someone is gonna be TRUTHY on GS, your post was as truthy as they get. Spot on and you asked all the right questions.

Never been a Kiss fan, but in full disclosure, if I had to pick my favourite Kiss member it would be GS. But for silly and self-amusing reasons.

They way he uses women (including his dopey, shack-up honey) is very, very offensive to me. It’s all for his self-pleasure. But if I had to be honest, he DOES freely disclose how he uses women. Not cool, but at least he says it like it is (and all smart females who don’t want to be used and discarded, should KNOW this and if they indulge, so sad, too bad) You’ve been duly warned.

Gene Simmons is such an arrogant big-mouth, it’s almost default that a smart women would hate him and the only reason I don’t is because he takes it to such an absurd limit, it is beyond parody. And the way he looks makes his chutzpah look even more brazen. My favourite “Fresh Air” (NPR) interview is the Gene Simmons/Terry Gross one. If my old feminist self heard that interview back in the day, GS would be Public Enemy #1. To me now, it’s comedy gold.

When GS dismisses other bad people and the bad things they do, he is trying to lighten his load of bad things done BY HIM. Never forget that. Sorry, I know what he is doing and it does not fly with me and it is offensive to mitigate other’s sins so one can mitigate their own. Not. Buying. It.

If one likes the truth, they cannot embrace GS even if they want to (and he does amuse me!) because DS shines the light on all the pertinent questions. She is spot-on.

Oh, and let me tell you…I think Lisa Lampanelli is a filthy, embarrassing comedianne, BUT her roast of Gene Simmons was so funny to me. I loved it. She does great (but filthy!) roasts. When I have a bad day, I like to watch her roasting of GS on YouTube and I LOL myself out of my mood. Good stuff!

Skunky on July 18, 2011 at 6:19 pm

If he is now finding Israel and promoting Israel, I say more power to him. At this point Deb, we need all the friends we can get, even those who have fallen away.

I wonder what religion his children will follow. Somehow, I doubt they will convert to Judaism.

Jonathan E. Grant on July 18, 2011 at 6:21 pm

I’ve always wished I could ask one of these Islam = Peace fools, what was a Muslim army was doing 100km from Paris when Charles the Hammer beat them back at the Battle of Tours in 732 AD? Vacation? Looking for jobs? Looking for welfare?
[732AD is 100yrs after moohamid bit the dust, 367yrs before the 1st crusade]

sg on July 18, 2011 at 7:10 pm

Istambul writes, “So when can we expect an apology for all the murder, slavery, piracy and rape committed in Islam’s name by Muslim leaders?”

Why would they apologize when they believe these acts have religious sanction? Are they not directed to terrorize and strike at the neck of the infidel, and “take what your right hand possesses”? Their victims of course rightly describe Islam’s expansion as imperial conquest, religious war, and colonialism.

Raymond in DC on July 18, 2011 at 7:38 pm

I think the most interesting person on GS’ show is his “girlfriend” Shannon Tweed. While she has been accepting of his hollywood lifestyle and I’m sure that his $$ helped her stay around, you don’t stay with someone for over 20 years unless you love them. GS has a woman under his roof who loves him and bore his children and is his wife in everything but name.

Yes, this isn’t good enough for him. He constantly has to be a slime and chase everything in skirts. The man is over 60 years old and still acts like that !!! Shannon says it herself that he has “issues” and it sounds like she has had it with his BS.

jimmyPx on July 18, 2011 at 8:01 pm

I was a sophomore in high school when the first KISS Lp came out in early 1974. You’d go into a record store and alphabetically sandwiched in between the Kinks and Led Zeppelin, there was suddenly this album with four clowns on the cover that wasn’t there before. I remember my friends and I pointing at it and laughing. Why isn’t this thing in the children’s section along with “Bozo’s Flying Circus?”

Since then, the group has released something like 30 albums, and over the last 35 years, I can only remember hearing two of their songs on the radio (“Rock And Roll All Night” and “Beth”). From what I gather, that is pretty much par for the course. I’ll go out on a limb and say that at this very moment, there are probably very few, (if any) people reading this who can hum more than three songs by KISS, or even NAME more than five.

By my estimate, if anyone were ever to surprise this man on a talk show by handing him a bass guitar, and asking him to play a simple major scale in any key, he probably wouldn’t be able to do it. When the majority of your repertoire is comprised of two chords or less, there isn’t even any need to use one’s left hand on a bass when performing them, if the strings are tuned correctly.

At the 5:41 mark in the first clip above, he says “I’ve Been Kind Of Arrogant.” Well, if he’s just noticing that for the first time, then perhaps not noticing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright before casting his vote isn’t quite as farfetched as it would initially seem.

Irving on July 18, 2011 at 8:03 pm

Acting!…what a jerk.

Dr Dale on July 18, 2011 at 8:29 pm

He’s from Haifa, which got the worst of it in the last missile launch. He didn’t start speaking out for Israel until he returned to Haifa in his reality show.

One silent-Jew that I worked with would say, “hey, we are in America now,” and change the subject. That is hardly conducive to survival of Zion.

John P on July 18, 2011 at 10:00 pm

Thank you for the post, Debbie.

I just watched/listened to both video clips above and I have a comment on one moment of the second clip. (I think that everything else that needs to be said has already been covered here by either Debbie or by the other commenters on this thread.)

In the second clip, in response to Obama saying that Israel should go back to its pre-1967 borders, GS says that while it would be ideal–and says that Obama is an idealist–that it’s not realistic and pointed out that the borders are indefensible and challenged Obama to live and defend Israel in it’s pre-1967 borders. While GS is correct in so far as that goes, he failed to mention that in addition to Israel going back to its pre-1967 borders being unrealistic, it is also undesirable, because not only should Israel be in the territories of Judea, Sameria, the Golan Heights–and should also re-liberate Gaza–for security reasons, but Israel should also be in those territories because they belong to Israel for religious, historical, and cultural reasons.

JeffE on July 18, 2011 at 10:49 pm

To be fair- Rebbe Schneerson never set foot in Israel. But then again the Rebbe never pimped his family on reality tv.

MarySJ on July 18, 2011 at 11:51 pm

DIS-CLAIMER – If you have a good schtick and play it to it’s fullest possible potential, you could make it big. Back in the day, KISS was one of those acts that could pull it off. “Detroit Rock City”, “Deuce”, “Shout It Out Loud”… I could name more, but I don’t want to lose sight of what I really want to say…

Gene Simmons is a publicity whore. Pure and simple.

Sofa-King what if he went to Israel to show support for the Eretz and to pay respect to his father? That schmuck should have done that MANY TIMES OVER with his boys in KISS. Especially back in the day.

To Skunky: FAME is as powerful a drug as blow. The attention, the adulation and especially the fringe benefits add to the high. Look at people such as OBL, the Nor-Ko Kims, Ceausescu: they just simply dosed themselves stupid with that shit, it just ain’t funny.

As a normal, hormonally horny heterosexual male, Gene Simmons is such a man-whore. He’s had many opportunities to marry Shannon Tweed so he could age gracefully and raise a decent family. Hell, Shannon had many opportunities to convert to Judaism, but I suspect that she stuck around just to ensure the enabling of a hormonally horny eternal teenager. (As an aside, imagine the number of jokes being generated given the fact that she’s also a Newfoundlander – it’s a Canadian thing: go figure, eh?)

Jeez, any insane person would do anything to bed up to 5000 women. I would do anything to avoid catching twice that many potential diseases caused by performing such a feat.

If I want a talented Jewish bass player, I’d get Geddy Lee from Rush – they’ve been around just as long as KISS (maybe longer), and they’re still putting out good music.

But I guess if someone spends most his/her life in Secular North America, would anyone want to go to anywhere else where there would be a constant threat of getting blown to kingdom-freaking-come?

But I’m done for now. I’d love to go to Israel at least once in my lifetime, just because. And I don’t need Gene Simmons for inspiration, please. And thank you.

(BTW – Gene Simmons is a real douche. And he probably knows that, too.)

The Reverend Jacques on July 19, 2011 at 4:48 am

Gene sometimes says the right things. But then he turns around and covers himself with shame for being a flaming caricature of egomania. All in all, having watched this episode, I’d say the psychological payment tsunami of his lifelong lust for what is transient is about to overwhelm him with start clarity.

Which he richly deserves.

Jack on July 19, 2011 at 9:35 am

Gene Simmons is about as Jewish as mayonaise on pastrami. He has a Jewish mother but he doesn’t even practice the slightest bit of the religion of going to shul as little as twice a year on the high holidays.
The crying at his father’s grave is sadness at the realization that his parents had a proud tradition to pass on, and he shunned it. He never taught anything to his children who never converted and now the chain is broken. He had the opportunity and means to keep a jewish home and never bothered to.
He is a phoney-baloney Jew with a yamulka that will never fit his big head. He has money, but spiritually he is bankrupt.

fred on July 19, 2011 at 10:29 am

Gene Simmons is kinda stupid.

Truth on July 19, 2011 at 12:19 pm

bin Laden isn’t bad? Islam means peace? Is this the same Gene Simmons who got in trouble for referring to radical Islam as evil and saying that anyone who thinks its happy living in the armpit of the world is nuts? He seems all over the place

Biff Tannen on July 19, 2011 at 10:16 pm

I think that emotion might have been real.

Pat in Michigan on July 20, 2011 at 5:11 am

Debbie I give him A LITTLE credit for being a hollywood/music type who backs up being pro troops with deeds. And minor point We don’t what his dad was like before he left..Maybe It took a real long time to forgive him..Not right but I understand it.

ceannrua on July 20, 2011 at 2:34 pm

Please people stop wondering if the Playmate will convert- and who wants her anyway?
The daughter wears a cross, the Playmate wears a cross-
Gene got all he deserved- a mixed up life, a child of survivors, whose kids are big time goyim, like the girl friend
and look at her family- a bunch of drinking shiksas-
hey, this is what Gene is used to- are we all dreaming that he would have ended up with a Jewish woman, and have Jewish kids??
It does not matter to him!!!!!!

Brigitte on August 3, 2011 at 6:46 pm

First of all, Islam is derived from the Arabic root “Salema”: peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law. So stop taking things out of context for your own gain. Secondly, this man is smarter than you could ever dream of being.

Andrew Ramey on November 20, 2013 at 6:29 pm