KISS bassist and co-singer Gene Simmons supports COVID-19 vaccination mandates and blames former US President Donald Trump for the current state of the coronavirus pandemic. On top of that, the veteran rocker isn’t “worried if an idiot contracts COVID and dies,” he says.
These three points float to the top in an interview Simmons gave to UCR that emerged on Monday (August 9). The conversation came about a week before the relaunch of The End of the Road world tour, KISS’s supposedly final concert that picks up another US stop on August 18 in Massachusetts. Scheduled to run until 2022, Simmons told UCR there would be more stops worldwide in “anywhere between 150 and 200 cities.”
With the world still plunged into a pandemic, however, the tours will be decidedly different from what they were before KISS was forced off the road – as well as most other acts – in March 2020. That’s it. time the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
“My druthers would be that everyone is mandated to get vaccinated,” Simmons shares now, 18 months later. “I hope everyone will wear their mask. But we can only control what we can control, and different states and countries have different rules.”
A noticeable change from upcoming KISS gigs, as the band co-founder explains – “We’re not having any dating,” says Simmons. “Obviously we’re giving up a pretty dime because the fans pay a premium to come and take pictures and stuff. Here we go.” In addition, the group “does not allow roadies or anyone else to be anywhere behind the scenes unless they are vaccinated and the masks are on all the time,” he adds.
The concerts have become a microcosm of the vaccine battle. There remains a sizable group of people across the United States who refuse immunizations, whose ideas showman KISS has no problem sneaking around.
“I have my rights, don’t tell me what to do,” Simmons scoffs at those who oppose COVID-19 vaccines. “Which is curious because you are not allowed to drive on the freeway in a car without a seat belt. You have to stop at a red light – that is not a right that you have. you are not allowed to walk naked on the streets. These are not life threatening ideas. We are talking about a fucking pandemic and people are fighting it. “
“I blame our former president,” Simmons said of Trump, who he worked with on the reality show The Celebrity Apprentice when Trump was still known as a businessman and media personality.
But perhaps the most powerful point Simmons raised is also one of the arguments of health advocates for all adults to get vaccinated, even outside of the benefits to themselves – the fact that one person vaccinated could very well save someone else’s life or health.
“I’m not worried – and it’s not nice to say this – I’m not worried if some idiot contracts COVID and dies,” the KISS member said. “I’m afraid he’s taking other people with him, who didn’t have a choice. It doesn’t have to be death. Being in a hospital is horrible. There are so many cases of deniers and begging at the hospital to get vaccinated.
Vaccination efforts in the United States continue, but only 50 percent of the nation’s population is fully vaccinated and more easily transmitted variants of the disease have emerged.
