After legendary actor Robin Williams took his own life, the Internet is ready to take Gene Simmons to task for an interview in which the Kiss bassist expressed crass views on suicide and depression.
The Internet never forgets, regardless of how much the European Union's High Courts would like to make it so. And while Simmons' remarks about suicide were made before Williams' death, the actor's demise has made the Internet a little less tolerant to those who don't view depression as a disease.
In an interview on Songfacts, a searchable database of song information, Simmons was asked if he still got along with his original band mates. Simmons said he doesn't get along with anyone who has a "dark cloud over their heads."
"Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: 'the world is a harsh place,' " said Simmons. "My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don't want to hear f**k all about 'the world as 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.' F**k you, then kill yourself."
With Simmons' July 31 interview with Songfacts picking up attention after Williams' suicide on Aug. 11, Simmons has attempted to control the damage his words have done. The sober rocker apologized and posted a message on his official Facebook page to clarify his stance on depression, deeming the language he used during his interview on the subject as "wrong" and "spur of the moment."
"Rather, I simply want to be clear that my heart goes out to anyone suffering from depression and I deeply regret any offhand remarks in the heat of an interview that might have suggested otherwise," he posted.
"I have never sugarcoated my feelings regarding drug use and alcoholics," stated Simmons on Facebook. "Somewhere along the line, my intention of speaking in very directly and perhaps politically incorrectly about drug use and alcoholics has been misconstrued as vile commentary on depression. Unkind statements about depression was certainly never my intention."
Simmons said depression was "very sad" and stated the he supported anyone suffering from any disease.
In the days after Williams suicide, his wife released information incidating that he had been struggling with depression and also had recently been diagnosed as being in the early stages of Parkinson's disease.
Simmons isn't backing down on his feelings regarding drug and alcohol use, but that's a topic for another discussion.
