KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons says that he is "on the side" of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was fined $2.5 million and banned for life after Sterling's racist remarks were made public. The publication of Sterling's taped racist comments privately imploring a woman friend not to associate with black people, sparked public outrage and embarrassed the National Basketball Association (NBA), which demanded the team be sold by September. While promoting the new AMC series "4th And Loud" about the KISS-branded Arena Football League team L.A. Kiss, Simmons was asked by The Wall Street Journal if he had followed the Sterling incident. "I'm on the side of Don Sterling," he replied. "I'm on Mel Gibson's side, Don Sterling's side and anybody who has a racist or an expletive rant privately. The difference between this guy, who's heinous, of course, or anybody else is that they were caught. "Everybody [says] jokes that are off-color, or when they're drunk. The difference between Sterling and everyone else is that he was caught on camera, by the way, without his approval. He was ambushed. I think he should have done penance and paid a fine. "Here's what's going to happen. They're going to go after Sterling and he's going to put a few million dollars out there, because he can afford it and he's going to ask the paparazzi out there to find videos of all the other team members talking trash and racist rants. And then it's open season. And if, because you say an off-color joke or make a racist rant privately, that causes you to lose a job nobody would have a job! Black people do it, Jews do it, Christians do it everybody does it! It's called America. Free speech. Even if free speech insults other people. Privately. Publicly, that's different. "I'm on the side of free speech in the privacy of your own home or privacy of the situation. "Big Brother has finally crawled in bed with us."
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