John Kennedy | Klite
Gene Simmons said Tuesday he’s glad women are speaking out about sexual assault and harassment in the entertainment industry.
“I want all the jackasses to go to jail for being improper,” he told Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford on Today. “It’s just that woman have finally stood up on their two hind legs and said, ‘You only get the respect you demand.’”
The KISS bassist, who has two adult children with Canadian wife Shannon Tweed, said his daughter Sophie is “nobody’s girlfriend.”
Simmons also defended his recent comments about women using their sexuality to get ahead.
In an interview with the New York Post, the 68-year-old rocker said: “”Women have a choice. They can dress in potato sacks, (but) as soon as they pretty themselves up with lipstick, lift and separate them and point them in our general direction, they’re gonna get a response. Guys are jackasses — we will buy them mansions and houses…all because of sex.”
Simmons didn’t back down. “Here’s the reality,” he said on Today. “I am aware of the rules. I didn’t create them, so you can try this yourself. I’m not saying life is fair. What I’m saying is the male of the species is visually stimulated.
“That’s life, and so you have power, the power of being a female, and you can access that power to make more money.”