Gene Simmons: Prince's Death Was 'Pathetic'

Gene Simmons set off an Internet firestorm Tuesday when he called Prince's death "pathetic" in an interview with Newsweek. “His drugs killed him," the former KISS frontman says. "What do you think, he died from a cold?” A cause of death has not been established, but prescription painkillers were found with Prince's body. "How pathetic that he killed himself," Simmons continues. "Don’t kid yourself, that’s what he did." Uproxx wasn't surprised by Simmons' thoughts on Prince's death. "If you are looking to hear an obnoxious opinion on a topic, you can often look no further than Simmons to find 10," the site states.

Unlike Prince, Simmons tells Newsweek he's never done drugs because, in part, they won't make his penis bigger. If Simmons wanted to make a point about the dangers of drug addiction, Uproxx points out there's probably a better we he could have done it. Simmons does have some praise for the late music superstar. “I think Prince was heads, hands, and feet above all the rest of them," Simmons says. "I thought he left [Michael] Jackson in the dust." He also calls David Bowie's death "tragic" because it was from a "real sickness" as opposed to Prince's supposed drug addiction. (More Gene Simmons stories.)