Gene Simmons has said he stands by his comments on Dancing With The Stars after receiving accusations of misogyny.
The veteran KISS singer and bassist sparked a backlash during an episode of the US dancing show this week (October 8), on which he was a guest judge alongside Bruno Tonioli, Derek Hough and Carrie Ann Inaba.
Some viewers criticised some of the comments he made, describing him as “disgusting”, “uncomfortable” and “disrespectful”, claiming he focused more on the female competitors’ appearance rather than their dancing ability.
When reviewing the performance from actor Reginald VelJohnson, for instance, he said, “Hey Reggie, you’ve got a beautiful woman right beside you who can twist it and turn it and knows how to move it and all that.” He also said that actor/singer Chandler Kinney “fogged up” his glasses, adding: “You move me, not just with your gyrations and so on, but your beautiful face and how you are into the emotion of it”.
Gene Simmons. Credit: Axel Heimken/picture alliance via Getty Images
Now, Simmons has doubled down on his appearance on the show, telling the Daily Mail: “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.”
The episode in question was dubbed ‘Hair Metal Night’, and saw the couples dancing to songs by the likes of Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Europe, as well as KISS’ ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’.
In other Gene Simmons news, the KISS bassist recently said he’s fine with being called an “asshole” – even suggesting he’s “reclaimed” the word and attempting to compare it to “black people taking possession of the ‘n’ word”.
He also recently said that Oasis fans unhappy with the use of dynamic pricing are “entitled to fuck off” and went on to weigh in on the prospect of a reunion of The Smiths.
He was, however, more positive about Linkin Park’s new singer, Emily Armstrong. “The new female singer, great. She fits the band. She sounds great and good luck to them. Life is short. Go out there and live it up, enjoy it,” he said.
“Linkin Park got fans, they want to hear the songs and the music. Why not? There are bands that tour, Lynyrd Skynyrd, lots of bands that barely have any original members or no original members. People want to hear those songs.”
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