Gene Simmons apologises to Fox News staff

Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons (Image credit: Getty)

Gene Simmons has apologised after he reportedly disrupted a meeting while visiting the Fox News network last week.

On Friday, a Fox News source told the Daily Beast that the Kiss bassist barged in on a staff meeting, introduced himself by exclaiming, “Hey chicks, sue me!”, then proceeded to pull open his shirt to reveal his torso, tell jokes about Michael Jackson and paedophilia, tap attendees on the head with copies of his new book, and insult their intelligence.

Simmons has now issued a statement saying he’s “sincerely sorry” although he states that what was reported to have happened has been “highly exaggerated and misleading.”

Simmons says (via the Daily Beast): “I have appeared frequently over the years on various Fox News and Fox Business programs and have a tremendous amount of respect for the talented women and men who work there.

“While I believe that what is being reported is highly exaggerated and misleading, I am sincerely sorry that I unintentionally offended members of the Fox team during my visit.”

Last week, it was reported that Simmons’ behaviour was reported to the Human Resources department at Fox, who permanently barred the Kiss frontman from the building.

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.