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Gene Simmons of Kiss to depressed people: “F*ck you, then kill yourself”

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons has made a lot of people angry. In a recent interview with Songfacts.com, Simmons basically dismisses depression as a mental illness:

“For a putz 20-year-old kid to say, 'I'm depressed. I live in Seattle.' Fuck 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 fuck up, have some dignity and jump! You've got the crowd,” Simmons said. “By the way, you walk up to the same guy on a ledge who threatens to jump and put a gun to his head, 'I'm going to blow your fuckin' head off.' He'll go, 'Please don't.' It's true. He's not that insane.”

According to Rolling Stone, this led to Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx criticizing Simmons on his radio show. Sixx said, “It's pretty moronic because [Simmons] thinks everybody listens to him, that he is the God of Thunder. He will tell you he is the greatest man on earth, and to be honest with you, I like Gene. But in this situation, I don't like Gene. I don’t like Gene's words. There is a 20-year-old kid out there who is a Kiss fan and reads this and goes, 'You know what? He's right. I should just kill myself.'”

Simmons recently issued an apology on his Facebook page, saying basically the opposite of what he had. Read his latest statement below:

“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.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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