Australian broadcaster Triple M has pulled all KISS tracks from playlists countrywide following Gene Simmons "misguided and insensitive" comments about depression and suicide. In an interview that Simmons gave to SongFacts.com late last month, he was asked if he still got along with original KISS members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. He replied: "I don't get along with anybody who's a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim. "Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: 'The world is a harsh place.' My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don't want to hear fuck-all about 'the world is a harsh place.' She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And 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. "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." Simmons has since been widely criticized for his comments and Triple M went a step further by refusing to play any KISS songs on the long-running station. "Gene Simmons' recent comments are misguided and insensitive," Triple M network head Mike Fitzpatrick said in a statement. "Depression and suicide are not topics he should be using to further his notoriety or sell records. His desperation to use mental health issues to find relevancy in a modern age is sickening. I can only put it down to a brain fade on his part. "The Triple M network can't and won't be playing or supporting this dickhead's music. I put the challenge out to other stations across Australia and North America to also drop any of this nudnik's songs until such time as he reconsiders his thoughtless and insensitive position." Earlier this week, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx called out Simmons on his "Sixx Sense" radio show, stating, "Gene is basically saying he has no sympathy for drug addicts or people who are depressed. I'm a recovering drug addict. If I had done what Gene Simmons said and that is to jump, so many wonderful things would have not happened in my life
. I like Gene, but in this situation, I don't like Gene. I don't like Gene's words, because
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.'"
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