Gene Simmons Admits to Error When Mentioning the Cause of Ace Frehley's Death

Kiss personnel, Gene Simmons (Instagram @genesimmons)

Gene Simmons has retracted a controversial statement he made about the reason for the death of former Kiss co-founder Ace Frehley.

As is known, ex-Kiss guitarist Frehley died at the age of 74 in New Jersey, USA on October 16.

As a result, Frehley did not join the three original members - Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss - when Kiss received the Kennedy Center Honors recently.

Simmons' controversial statement was made before receiving the Kennedy Center Honors, where he told The New York Times that "bad decisions" had led to Frehley's fatal fall.

He seemed to hint that the abuse of prohibited substances may have played a role in Frehley's fall and eventual death.

However, days later, Simmons apologized for his statement.

Through the social media X, the 76-year-old musician admitted his guilt after a period of reflection.

"After reflecting, I used the wrong words. I humbly apologize," Simmons said.

"For God's sake, I didn't mean to hurt Ace or his legacy, but after re-reading my words, I see how it hurt everyone," he added. "Again, I'm sorry. I've always loved Ace. Always."

The relationship between Frehley and Simmons himself was known to be full of turmoil. In 2019, Simmons claimed that Frehley was fired from the band due to substance abuse.

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Meanwhile, on the other side, Frehley argues that at that time he had been clean of prohibited substances for 12 years and left the band on his own accord.

In November, the remaining Kiss members paid tribute to Frehley during their first "unmasked" show since his retirement from touring.

Before the show started, electric candles were distributed to the audience. When he got on stage, Paul Stanley asked the audience to raise the candles into the air and take a moment to honor the guitarist.

Following Frehley's departure, a petition on Change.org was launched in an effort to convince the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to grant the guitarist honorary astronaut status.

The petition, started by a fan named Kathryn, has received more than 3,000 signatures and continues to grow.