Gene Simmons Calls Prince's Death 'Pathetic'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The frontman of KISS spoke very candidly about a beloved Minnesota icon in a recent interview.
"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," Gene Simmons told Newsweek in a recent profile. "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."
The quote is certainly not the first time Simmons' unfiltered words have gotten into trouble -- the 67-year-old rock star has always courted controversy, saying things that grab headlines.
Simmons himself is well known in the celebrity world for maintaining a lifelong sobriety, and mentioned it in the interview with Newsweek.
"I've never been high or drunk in my life," he said. "I have to validate that: Except in a dentist's chair where they knock you out. I've never been high or drunk. I don't care if anybody believes it or not. It's just a personal life choice."
Simmons also contrasted Prince's death to another recently deceased rocker -- David Bowie -- who died of cancer in January.
"Bowie was the most tragic of all because it was real sickness," he said in the interview. "All the other ones were a choice."