While heavier artists like Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello, Lamb Of God‘s Randy Blythe, Disturbed‘s David Draiman, Limp Bizkit‘s Wes Borland, Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and numerous others have been vocal and encouraging their peers to raise their voice on political and cultural issues in these trying times, at least one hard rock legend would prefer they all keep their mouth shut.
While KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons has been known to have an opinion on just about everything from questioning rap’s place in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, to proclaiming proclaiming rock & roll is dead, the 76-year-old would prefer politics stay out of art — at least when it comes to celebrities.
Simmons, who was presented with the Kennedy Center Honors personally by U.S. President Donald J. Trump alongside his KISS bandmates last December, and has made conflicting statements regarding Trump over the years, recently was interviewed by TMZ.
When it was pointed out by the publication that recent videos shared by The White House on social media and more have drawn criticism from the actors and musicians for unauthorized usage of their work and likeness, often resulting in statements regarding their political beliefs, Simmons sarcastically fired back [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“Everybody in the world should listen to what actors and comedians say, because they’re so qualified. Basically shut the f*ck up. Do your art and shut up. Nobody’s interested in your opinions, that includes me. Who I vote for, who I like. Who the f*ck do you think you are?
People in America work hard for their living and they don’t wanna be lectured to by people who live in mansions and drive Rolls-Royces. It’s time for everybody in the entertainment industry to shut their piehole and just do you art. Nobody cares what you think. I don’t. What will Mark Ruffalo — however the f*ck he pronounces his name, Ruffalo, buffalo — what does Mark think about politics? I don’t care.”
He later quipped to those who disagree with him, “go to Kylie Jenner and see what she thinks about the war so far.” Simmons‘ opinions somewhat ironically fly directly in the face of Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe, who in a newly published interview with Kerrang!, was asked for his thoughts on frequent criticisms that musicians and entertainers face when voicing their political beliefs.
It usually doesn’t take more than a scroll or two to see at lease one commenter telling an artist to ‘stick to music’ anytime something political is expressed on social media. Blythe fired back at those detractors in the aforementioned interview, taking particular ire for the pushback he got for labeling the handling of the Epstein Files as a “blatant cover-up”:
“Ultimately, “to those people, I say ‘Go f*ck yourself.’ I’m an American citizen and a world traveler. More than that, I’m a human being. I’m not some dancing monkey put here for your entertainment. If you have any sort of moral compass at all, it’s irresponsible to not exercise your right to speak up.
If people are willing to compartmentalize something like a child sex trafficking ring because they think it might better their bank account, they’ve lost a component of their humanity. They’ve lost an integral part of what it is to be a righteous human being. At that point, it’s time to stop and reassess and reevaluate.
You’re not going to be able to carry your money into the grave, motherf*cker, but you will be able to carry the memories of silently going along with people that enabled child sex predators. How are you going to feel about that on your deathbed?”
