Gene Simmons has never been known to hold back.
In a new interview with the Daily Mail , he got especially candid about racism in America. This includes the racism he endured growing up as a Jewish child.
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He also didn’t mince words when it came to a solution to handling these racists.
Keep reading to see what he had to say.
KISS rocker Gene Simmons is one of the latest celebrities to join the new Black-Jewish Entertainment Alliance.
This is an alliance formed by Hollywood members to help combat the “ongoing nature of systematic racism, the frightening rise of anti-Semitism and hate crimes,” the website reads.
Some big names in the alliance include Sharon Osbourne, Nick Cannon, Billy Porter, and Jason Alexander.
As someone who has experienced racism firsthand, Simmons felt like it was his duty to join.
He recently got candid about some of these experiences in an interview with the Daily Mail .
His earliest experience was when he was 13 and a boy tried to keep him out of a YMCA pool because he was Jewish.
His Hungarian mother survived the Holocaust.
“I remember coming out of the pool and these two guys got in my face,” Gene recalled. “One said ‘What are you doing here? You’re Jewish.'”
Since he was taught by his mother about racism toward Jewish people, Gene wasn’t about to back down.
“I leaned forward and said ”Sorry I can’t hear you.'” He then handled the racism head on — literally.
“As he got in my face, I smashed my forehead against his nose.”
“Of course he started bleeding and fell into the pool,” he continued. And I was thrown out of the YMCA.”
Sadly, this was just one experience of many.
The culmination of these tragic stories has led the rocker to devote a big chunk of his life to confronting and stopping racism.
He told the *Daily Mail* that he’s “disgusted” by the racism he sees in America.
A recent example is George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by police officers back in May 2020. This led to a surge in the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It is going to get better but you’ve got to confront it,’ he said.
“The guy with his drunken buddies hurling racial epithets, take photos of him,” he gave as an example.
“You’ve got to turn on the light and go after those cockroaches. And don’t just chase them out. Find out where they live. Identify them, make their lives miserable – legally. Shine the light on that cockroach,” he said.
“This guy’s name is so-and-so and he lives right outside of Manchester and works in this garage,” he continued.
He went on to say that the garage is going to fire the person because “they don’t want the attention of hiring a hate-monger.”
Such strong words have come from a lifetime of bad experiences involving racism.
In addition to the racism he endured from being Jewish, he also received judgment when he was involved in an interracial relationship with Diana Ross.
“There’s no question that when we walked down the street, other than the celebrity part of it, people would look at you and think ‘What’s she doing with him?'”
“‘What’s he doing with her?’ A dismissive thing, because she’s black and I’m white,” he added.
Gene shared some of the “horror stories” Ross endured while leaving concerts.
When she performed with The Supremes in the deep south, they came outside to find their tour bus had been shot at, he recalled.
He also called out rock and roll bands that still ignorantly use hate symbols.
“I believe in my heart these bands just aren’t educated,” he said.
“There was a holocaust, but we just don’t confront these things. They’re not the sharpest tools in the shed.”
For more of Gene’s interview with the Daily Mail , read it here .
H/T: Daily Mail .
