Gene Simmons has some truly ignorant views on depression

The singer told depressed 20-year-olds, 'kill yourself'

Photo: WENN.com

Kiss's Gene Simmons has come under fire from the public and fellow musicians after he told people battling with depression: "kill yourself."

The singer revealed his shockingly ignorant views during a Q&A published by SongFacts, and has since been justifiably labelled a "moron" by Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx.

The musician was asked if he still gets along with the original members of KISS, to which he replied:

"No, I don't get along with anybody who's a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim. Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: "The world is a harsh place." My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don't want to hear fuck 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.' Fuck you, then kill yourself. I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. I'm the guy who says 'Jump!' when there's a guy on top of a building who says, 'That's it, I can't take it anymore, I'm going to jump.'

Are you kidding? Why are you announcing it? Shut the fuck up, have some dignity and jump! You've got the crowd. By the way, you walk up to the same guy on a ledge who threatens to jump and put a gun to his head, 'I'm going to blow your fuckin' head off!' He'll go, 'Please don't!' It's true. He's not that insane."

The comments have caused particular outrage in the wake of the death of Robin Williams, who committed suicide earlier this week after a life-long battle with depression.

Speaking on his radio show Sixx Sense, Nikki Sixx said: “Gene is basically saying he has no sympathy for drug addicts or people who are depressed. I’m a recovering drug addict. If I had done what Gene Simmons said and that is to jump, so many wonderful things would have not happened in my life. There’s almost 15 million American that are depressed. Gene Simmons says I should have just killed myself…15 million people should just kill themselves?"

He added, “To be honest with you, I like Gene, but in this situation, I don’t like Gene. I don’t like Gene’s words, because … there is a 20-year-old kid out there who is a Kiss fan and reads this and goes, ‘You know what? He’s right. I should just kill myself’."

Australian radio station Triple M today announced that they have removed all Kiss songs from their playlists nationwide in the light of his comments.