Gene Simmons, asshole bassist for KISS, a band most vocally championed by assholes, has come out in support of asshole Donald Sterling and his right to be an asshole. Simmons—an asshole who once titled his solo record Asshole and regularly threw himself “asshole parties”—has long been a firm believer in one’s right to be an asshole, whether it’s to your fans and fellow band members, or just making the sort of everyday racist comments Simmons believes everyone makes, but that the Los Angeles Clippers owner had the misfortune to be caught making on tape and also over the course of many years.
Though The Wall Street Journal notes that Simmons did call Sterling “heinous,” it’s possible he actually said “anus”—as again, he believes that everyone’s an asshole. “Everybody [says] jokes that are off- color, or when they’re drunk,” Simmons says. “And if, because you say an off-color joke or make a racist rant privately, that causes you to lose a job—nobody would have a job. Black people do it, Jews do it, Christians do it—everybody does it. It’s called America. Free speech. Even if free speech insults other people. Privately. Publicly, that’s different. I’m on the side of free speech in the privacy of your own home or privacy of the situation. Big Brother has finally crawled in bed with us.”
Previously, Simmons also discussed how he agrees that the Washington Redskins should have to change its team name, because “there’s sports, there’s business and then there are people.” Simmons then proceeded to break down the various social structures of being an asshole.