Gene Simmons, the KISS frontman who’s never been shy about saying what’s on his mind, decided to take a flamethrower to Hollywood’s nonstop political preaching. When TMZ asked him about celebrities who can’t stop attacking Donald Trump, Simmons didn’t spend time sugarcoating it. “Shut the fuck up. Do your art and shut up,” he snapped. According to Simmons, nobody cares about what actors or musicians think about politics. “Who I vote for; who I like. Who the fuck do you think you are,” he said, disgusted with Hollywood’s habit of lecturing the public.
Simmons said what many regular working Americans probably wish these pampered elites would hear: “People in America work hard for their living and they don’t want to be lectured to by people who live in mansions and drive Rolls-Royces.” He wasn’t finished. “It’s time for everybody in the entertainment industry to shut their pie hole. And just do your art. Nobody cares what you think. I don’t.”
He even took a jab at Marvel actor Mark Ruffalo. “Mark Ruffalo, however the fuck he pronounces his name — Ruffalo buffalo — ‘What does Mark think about politics?’ I don’t care,” Simmons quipped before mocking the celebrity obsession with political takes. “Or go to Kylie Jenner and ask what she thinks of the [Iran] war so far.”
Of course, Simmons isn’t exactly innocent when it comes to handing out lectures. During an October 2021 appearance on Good Morning Britain, Simmons went off on anyone who refused the COVID-19 vaccine. “We’re not concerned if you’re breathing it or not… we’re concerned if you’re getting us sick,” he said. “So get your g**d**mned COVID shot.” When asked about government mask and vaccine mandates, he doubled down. “That’s right; the government is telling you what to do. Shut up, be respectful of other people, and get a [Covid] vaccine. Stop being selfish.”
The backlash was swift and severe:
“Rock and roll all night and party every day unless the government tells you to stop. Then shut up and do it,” said singer Brad Skistimas on his band’s Twitter account,
“Good morning to everyone except Gene Simmons who wants you to blindly follow what the government tells you to do and get jabbed,” said Laura Kronen in a tweet. “Meanwhile his grandmother died in a Nazi gas chamber. And his mother held prisoner. But you should ‘shut up and do it’ because the govt tells you to?“
“Pro-Authoritarian Rock Bands are boring,” said Missouri Senator-elect Eric Schmitt in his tweet.
It’s funny how that version of Gene Simmons, the one barking at fans to obey government mandates, sounded exactly like the lecturing elites he’s roasting. Maybe, like a lot of millionaires who’ve been insulated from normal life for decades, Simmons had his first brush with real vulnerability back during the pandemic. It was a powerful psyop for the whole world. It must have been a humbling experience for the guy who once breathed fire on stage.
Still, he’s not wrong about the celebrity political circus. Americans are tired of actors and singers treating their fans like campaign volunteers. But taking advice about humility from the guy with the longest tongue in rock music might not be your wisest move either. In the end, maybe everyone in Hollywood, from Mark Ruffalo to Gene Simmons himself, should just take his advice and shut their pie holes for once. And we should never, ever take the advice of celebrities.
English (US) · 