Gene Simmons Said He "Did Nothing" to Warrant Fox News Ban

Gene Simmons is defending himself from allegations of lewd, harassing behavior at Fox News which prompted the network to ban him from its grounds for life last month.  

The KISS bassist told Sarah Montague of BBC's "Hardtalk" that Fox employees grossly overstated the events of his November visit. 

"Here's how I wear my shirt," Simmons said, referring to a claim that he burst into a meeting at the network and opened his shirt. "Somebody there apparently had the goods in for me and called something called The Daily Beast or something and said whatever they said I did."

Simmons was accused of interrupting the meeting, declaring "Hey chicks, sue me," opening his shirt to expose his chest and belly, then walking around the room telling inappropriate jokes and bopping Fox employees on the head with copies of his new book, On Power: My Journey Through the Corridors of Power and How You Can Get More Power.

"I did nothing," the rocker continues. "I always had people around me. Like when I come here, I've got handlers and everybody sees what I'm doing. You can't go into a public area and do anything."

Simmons then alleged that The Daily Beast treated him unfairly and that other websites picked up the story, causing outrage over a total non-story.

"The problem is with social media today is nobody calls you and says, 'Do you have a comment?' So the story was printed, and, of course, everybody exploded. And Fox, you know, they're nice people — I like them a lot — closed ranks and they're afraid of getting sued by everybody. Nothing happened. I stand by every word."

When Simmons did comment on the allegations later that week, he wrote that he was "sincerely sorry" that his behavior offended members of the Fox News staff.

Two days after the Fox News incident, Simmons was accused of sexual harassment by a woman who encountered him earlier that day.


Photo: Getty Images


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