Gene Simmons Stands By Every Creepy Word He Said On Dancing With the Stars
I said yesterday that I would be surprised if Gene Simmons made any comment regarding the criticism he received for the things he said as a guest judge on Dancing With the Stars where he talked about the appearance of female contestants rather than their dancing skills. You know, what he was actually there to judge the contestants on. Well, color me surprised because Simmons actually made a comment. The unsurprising part is that it was just to say he’s not sorry for any of the creepy comments he made.
In a brief interview yesterday with British trash tabloid The Daily Mail (that was transcribed by Blabbermouth), the Kiss bassist and co-vocalist responded to the reaction people had to his appearance on the show:
“All media is clickbait. I stand by every word I said. I had a great time. The contestants were great. The show was great. Watch the show. It was a lot of fun. But media? Everybody’s got something to say. Watch the show. It was a lot of fun. Everybody had a great time.”
Let’s breakdown the stupidity of those statements. First of all, he tries to blame the monolithic media, which is pretty easy to do because everyone hates some portion of the media. Except, the “media” aren’t the ones who said he was creepy. Us and all the other media outlets that called Simmons out for creepy comments were quoting fans on Twitter who were disgusted by his behavior. Of course, for Simmons to understand that, he would have had to read any of the articles about the situation, and I doubt he did that.
Secondly, the statement that “Everybody had a good time” is not entirely true. At least one contestant thought it was inappropriate. After Simmons said that 24-year-old actress and singer Chandler Kinney “fogged up” his glasses, Kinney’s dancing partner Brandon Armstrong told US Weekly:
“I said, ‘Hold up now.’ I have two little sisters. I heard it. I said, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’”
But expecting Gene Simmons to take accountability for anything, especially his notorious sexism, is like expecting Cannibal Corpse to put out a polka album. I guess it could happen, but don’t hold your breath.