By Amanda Wicks
Gene Simmons is no stranger to making incendiary comments, and in a new interview with Newsweek he puts his foot in his mouth yet again. This time about Prince.
Related: Gene Simmons Responds to N.W.A. Rock Hall Diss
Speaking about his age relative to other legendary rockers who have passed away in 2016, namely David Bowie and Prince, Simmons described their deaths in two very different terms. While he said Bowie’s death was “tragic,” he called Prince’s death “pathetic.”
Simmons said, “I think Prince was heads, hands and feet above all the rest of them. 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.”
He added, “The one question I have is: When we all start out and we have these big dreams and you finally get your wish—you have more money than God and fame—what is that insane gene in us, well, a lot of us, that makes us want to succumb to the cliché of clichés: drugs and alcohol?”
He did go on to admit that the way Prince died won’t tarnish his legend; if anything, it will add to it.
The legend Simmons is cultivating for himself with his continued commentary on popular music speaks for itself.
