Oh Good, Gene Simmons is Totally Okay with Us Calling Him an Asshole
In the totality of rock music, there are tons of people worth calling assholes. Shitty promoters, untrustworthy managers, money grubbing streaming platform CEOs… the list goes on. But if we were to look at the performers themselves, that fact also rings true. And while people may have different names on their list of asshole musicians, one name that sits high among those considered is Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.
During a recent interview with Really Famous with Kara Mayer Robinson (transcribed by Blabbermouth), Simmons sat down and spoke with licensed therapist Kara Mayer Robinson about his career, his personal life, and everything in between. It’s perhaps one of the more intimate interviews with Simmons, spanning an hour and really digging deep. And while we hear about everything from his relationship with his mother to where his business acumen comes from, it’s his comments on how he feels when he hears people think he’s an asshole.
“I would say there are some — could be a large number, could not — who think I’m an asshole. In fact, I named my second solo album Asshole, which, I thought, was akin to black people taking possession of the ‘n’ word. And fat people, overweight people, obese people, taking possession of that, so that you lessen the impact of that.”
Boy, that statement really went somewhere by the end of it, huh? When you equate you calling yourself an asshole on an album cover the same as taking back a word that bigots use to denigrate an entire minority, that might be a little much. Especially when people might think you’re an asshole because you did things like allegedly grope your bandmate’s wife.
Still, he went on, despite that previously bad statement that totally doesn’t riff on racial or body-based stereotypes. This time around though, he tackled the main issue he thinks people have with him — that he whored out the Kiss name to become rich.
“I’m okay with being labeled or thought of as an asshole, because I know who I am. And there are other people who think, ‘You only do this for money.’ And my response is — of course. Why am I not salt of the earth when almost all the jobs on the face of the planet are performed by people who don’t like the job they have, and the only reason they’re doing that is to be able to earn money to feed their families and put a roof over their head? Only for money. Nobody wants to dig ditches on a highway. The building we’re in, somebody had to put up. They do that every day. They go to work, do the same thing every day, nine to five, five days a week. Join the union or not, and break their backs and never get rich, just to be able… ‘That’s the salt of the earth.’ Why can’t I be salt of the [earth]? The fact that I make more money? But I also give to philanthropy. And by the way, it’s none of your fucking business who or what or where. I’m not trying to impress you or not. I know who I am. And maybe that’s the best thing to do in life, is to just be comfortable in your own skin, ’cause not everybody likes Jesus either.”
For someone that’s okay being labeled an asshole, he sure sounds like he got pretty defensive near the end there…
If you’re so inclined, you can watch the rest of the interview below. It really is an interesting watch, that’s for sure.
