The COVID crisis continues to generate strong opinions and KISS' Gene Simmons voiced his during an appearance on the livestream social selling network TalkShopLive (as seen below), hitting out at anti-vaxxers and decrying the politicization of vaccines while calling out both political parties in the U.S.

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Simmons was initially asked about the recent KISS Kruise the band participated in, explaining, "[It was] really a terrific time. Unfortunately, our European friends and other friends around the world — I prefer 'friends' to 'fans' 'cause it's really become sort of like a family — couldn't come as easily on the cruise because you had to have been vaccinated."

The talk of vaccinations then segued into Simmons' comments on the unvaccinated, with the singer-bassist stating, "I don't care about your political beliefs. You are not allowed to infect anybody just because you think you've got rights that are delusional, of course."

Building his argument, he added, "You don't have the right to go through a red light; actually, the government has the right to tell you to stop. You have to put on a seat belt. If they tell you you can't smoke in a building, you can't smoke in a building. And that's not because they wanna take away your rights; that's because the rest of us hate it. We don't wanna smell your smoke. I don't wanna catch your disease. I don't wanna risk my life just 'cause you wanna go through a red light."

"This whole idea, this delusional, evil idea that you get to do whatever you want and the rest of the world be damned is really terrible," he continued. "You've gotta identify those people and bring 'em out into the open, so you know who they are. Know who your friends are by how much they care about you. That includes COVID. If you're willing to walk among us unvaccinated, you are an enemy."

Simmons then addressed conspiracy theorists touting that COVID-19 is a hoax, stating, "For those that don't believe this is real, over five million human beings have died from COVID. I know — there are Flat Earth Society people who believe in all sorts of things [who say] they died because they were fat or because they smoked. No, bitch — they died because they got COVID. And there are still a lot of people who don't believe that, and you have to find out who those people are. I don't care if you play football or not — stay away from evil people who don't care about your health."

Concluding his commentary on COVID, Simmons then discussed the politicization of vaccines in the U.S., pulling no punches in the process. "It has become political, unfortunately. The far left and the far right are both evil; they both spread all kinds of nonsense. I don't like either one of them. Politics are the enemy. Humanism and humanity is what we should all be concerned about. Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Simmons has been open with his thoughts on COVID, earlier this year stating, "My druthers would be that everybody is mandated to get vaccines." KISS returned to touring as part of their "End of the Road" trek, and ran into COVID issues during the run. Both Simmons and Paul Stanley tested positive for COVID, leading to shows being rescheduled.

Stanley's longtime guitar tech Francis Steuber died in October after contracting COVID as well. While some of the band's crew members were critical of the tour's COVID protocols, the band issued a statement saying that they had "safety protocols in place that met, but most often exceeded, federal, state and local guidelines."

Gene Simmons Speaks on TalkShopLive

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