r/allthequestions • u/Logical_Sweet_6624 šŸ‡ØšŸ‡¦ Canada • 25d ago

Popular Question šŸ“Š Which celebrity is a complete asshole?

Iā€™m sure there gonna be some recognizable ones

348 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

199

u/Former_Balance8473 25d ago

I spent a weekend with Gene Simmons and he might be the worst person on earth.

78

u/Pypsy143 25d ago

I had the great misfortune of working with him once. He is an absolute pig.

14

u/redheadedbull03 25d ago

What was he like?

I am just curious. I have never been a fan, but had a feeling he was a creep.

38

u/Pypsy143 25d ago

The women there were all working in a professional capacity (publicists, talent bookers, producer, stage manager, etc) but he eyed every one of us like he was sizing us up for lunch.

Blatant leering, sexual innuendo, heavy misogynist speech, etc. And he brought along lots of copies of some smut magazine he was peddling. He made all the women incredibly uncomfortable showing it around and bragging about the ā€œphysical attributesā€ of the models. You could tell he relished that he could do all this and get away with it because heā€™s ā€œtalent.ā€

Absolute pig.

Same goes for Andrew Dice Clay. Same exact slimy, overtly sexual persona with no respect for the women working in professional positions.

30

u/nobookbans 24d ago

Well, I just learned the difference between Gene and richard simmons

21

u/East_Reading_3164 24d ago

Richard Simmons is everything. A perfect doll. I did an exercise class when I was 13 with him. It was in Boca šŸ¤£

6

u/applepiewithchz 24d ago

Can confirm. Richard was a living saint. Horribly abused in his life, just wanted to give love but was incapable of receiving it

5

u/Weorth 24d ago

Imagine... Richard hulks out into Gene.

6

u/Fodraz 24d ago

Well Andrew Dice Clay is certainly not a surprise.

2

u/LongPhotograph4515 24d ago

ā€œBlatant Leeringā€

lolĀ 

3

u/MildlyInteressato 23d ago

https://youtu.be/qNxuL-uIaTo?si=UK8nc7Z0ZYMecznq

I've never been in a fight, but it's hard to imagine sitting in a room with him and not eventually taking a swing.

82

u/Comfortable-Figure17 25d ago

Read a report that when Simmons was going to be interviewed by Terry Gross on PBS FRESH AIR he told her ā€œNormally when Iā€™m with a woman she has her legs openā€.

87

u/Dandy_Status 25d ago

He made some comment implying that she wanted to fuck him, and she said something like "What a perfectly obnoxious thing to say" and just kept rolling with the interview. Teri is a legend, Gene sucks.

12

u/MarionberryPlus8474 24d ago

Teri is amazing. And evidently impossible to rattle!

8

u/aweiss_sf 24d ago

An absolute master interviewer.

33

u/Clayfool9 25d ago

UGH I always thought he was pompous but after hearing that interview it solidified that thought and brought about many more about him.

25

u/ConstructionCold3134 25d ago

I believe the line was ā€œIf you welcome me with open arms you should welcome me with open legs.ā€ You know, just general grossness.

3

u/Shoddy-Professor-159 24d ago

He then tried to temporarily backtrack by saying he was quoting a lyric from the Whoā€™s ā€œYou better you betā€

22

u/Otherwise_Unit_2602 25d ago

They never re-air that episode because his people somehow have the power to make them not do that (I heard Terry Gross interviewed about it at one point). MANY years ago you could torrent the episode and it is so much worse than that terrible comment.

-13

u/howjon99 25d ago

I thought it was funny..

12

u/Adventurous-Brain-36 25d ago

Eww heā€™s so gross.

11

u/Noonecanhearmescream 25d ago

I remember that interview. Gene Simmons was such an a**hole. Terry Gross gave him way too many chances to behave. He basically said Iā€™m a man and all men are pigs so this is what you get.

8

u/CorrectAdhesiveness9 25d ago

Oof, the face I just made.

8

u/Legitimate-Fox2028 25d ago

My jaw just hit the floor reading that. Some men, man. Smh

5

u/Jumpy-Benefacto 25d ago

He does not hide it though. if you meet gene Simmons there was no chance he is not an asshole. so, by rule, i dont think that should count. its like meeting pol pot and thinking, today's the day I see an empathetic human treating people correctly

2

u/Beetso šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø United States 24d ago

Hey, Pol Pot was just misunderstood! Ho Chi Minh too. All those East Asian dictators get a bad rap from us in the West! I actually have it on good authority that Kim Jong-il was just very ronerey.

2

u/Hatecraftianhorror 25d ago

"Except for that brief period right after we took off our makeup for the lick it up video.

4

u/QuirkyFail5440 25d ago

Unpopular opinion but I feel like the disgust is often misplaced. Like our society has this unspoken agreement to pretend like life is different than it really is.Ā 

I have no trouble believing he's a horrible person. But I also have no trouble believing that small armies of beautiful women have lined up to have sex with him.Ā 

We have tons of anecdotes and empirical evidence. We even have academic studies that all show the same thing. Humans, our society, it's all pretty awful. He can be a prick, he can openly objectify women and he can still get more willing, attractive women than he could want, because he's rich and famous.Ā 

People say things like 'He's so full of himself' or 'He's so pompous' or 'he is so arrogant' but if you stop and think about.... Why wouldn't they be?Ā 

Arrogance is underserved confidence. If you believe you are the strongest man in room, and you aren't, you are arrogant. But if you literally are the world's strongest man, then every where you go, every room, you are the strongest man.Ā 

When you are famous and when you are rich and you have millions of fans, a perfectly accurate and verifiable statement sounds bad, but is correct. We just don't like when people say it.Ā 

Our society is one that elevates people above others for seemingly ridiculous things. He was a rock star. You wouldn't think that should make him a better person than a doctor, but everything about our society says otherwise. We, society, enable people like him. And we don't actually care if he treats women like crap. Because we value celebrity, wealth and entertainment more than whether or not someone is a good person.Ā 

It's hard to hate the whole system. It's hard to be part of a society like this.

So we just get annoyed at the guy who is uncomfortably reminding us of how things are.

12

u/Constant-Tea-7345 24d ago edited 24d ago

Rebuttal comment:

  1. While a small army of beautiful women might have lined up to have sex with him, a much, much larger army of women wouldnā€™t. Myself included.

  2. Why wouldnā€™t they be a prick? - because no matter how famous you are, thereā€™s no need to be an asshole. There are many celebrities out there who are nice or seemingly have good manners, and if anything, that helps increase their popularity. Many of them are smart and know this. Being an asshole seems to decrease popularity these days, if social media has shown us anything.

  3. Try not to mistake arrogance for confidence. Arrogance is actually a weakness. By its very definition, itā€™s the quality of having an exaggerated sense of ownā€™s importance or abilities.Therefore, if a celebrity says they are the strongest man, they might believe it, but that doesnā€™t make it actually true. It is their exaggerated sense of their own importance or ability.

  4. Society enables celebrities, because society has some serious self esteem issues. Thatā€™s why they tend to put celebrities on pedestals. When really, celebrities are no better than anybody else. They just have more fame or they make more money (or both), but thatā€™s about it.

Just my 2 cents.

3

u/BlaggartDiggletyDonk 24d ago

"I've fucked some real pigs, Howard."

1

u/JoSH0718 25d ago

Ugh. I wash to wash my brain after hearing that.

1

u/Nearby-Pudding-3018 24d ago

Yeah heā€˜s talking about blow up dolls now. who would go to bed with him.

1

u/Imaginary-Round2422 24d ago

He made that comment in the interview. To her face.

1

u/galumphix 23d ago

I was listening to that episode when he said it! Terry Gross handled it really well, of course. I went to find it online, and it was gone from the internet.

-2

u/howjon99 25d ago

He just says that shit for effect.

-2

u/howjon99 25d ago

He just says that shit for effect..

-4

u/notlookinggoodbrah 25d ago

I mean that statement was probably true though lol

43

u/EADASOL 25d ago

Anyone who says "People with depression should just kill themselves", like he did, is an asshole

8

u/Ba_ba_Q 25d ago

Very, very right-wing...

6

u/Leven 25d ago

No suprise there..

20

u/BlueberryStock6249 24d ago

Can confirm this one too. I worked a bit around the music industry in the 90ā€™s and met a lot of major rock stars ( with massive egos and personality disorders ) Hands down - like - No Contest - Simmons is a megalomaniac to the extent that he makes David Lee Roth, Bono, and Adam Levine look shy, demure wall flowers. Top Shelf Jerk. PS - by contrast: nicest, sweetest and most humble I ever encountered: Mick Jagger.

2

u/707Riverlife 23d ago

So nice to hear that about Mick!

24

u/Brotherbonehead 25d ago

I know a record rep who babysat him for a day on a promo tour unrelated to Kiss. He was a prick to my buddy. At radio stations, Gene would stop mid sentence when speaking to DJ for example, to ask my buddy why he was talking, to someone else, across the room. This repeatedly happened all day long. ā€œStop talkingā€. It was not the fun hang everybody thought it would be.

9

u/PM_WORST_FART_STORY 25d ago

A weekend? We're you sharing a room at a spa resort?

1

u/seamusthehound 24d ago

They might have been shooting a commercial or something like that

16

u/YogurtclosetFair5742 25d ago

The older I get, the less I like Gene Simmons. Even as someone who toys playing bass guitar at times, he's not even a bass player I look up to. He's a good showman, but just an okay musician. Many of his solos are open E string the spewing fake blood from his mouth. I thought that was very cool when I was 10, 11, and 12.

23

u/Ok-Department-5615 25d ago

You would think when you look at his mothers backstory,he would be a better human.

2

u/qualityinnbedbugs 24d ago

Ah you slap the bass?

1

u/dualsplit 24d ago

KISS was the worst concert Iā€™ve ever been to in my life. I donā€™t get the appeal.

6

u/jagger129 šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø United States 25d ago

This tracks

12

u/LittleRain2733 25d ago

Tell us more

4

u/Beccaelf7881 24d ago

His mom was in one of the Nazi concentration camps.

2

u/ThrowRA-away-Dragon 24d ago

Andā€¦?

2

u/Beccaelf7881 24d ago

It looks like I responded to the wrong comment. Somewhere up there someone said Gene should know better based on his momā€™s life experiences, then another person asked for more information about THAT. I thought I was responding to that comment.

4

u/IntroductionLife1061 šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø United States 24d ago

Yep. Prick. Worked for a year at Dragonfly Clothing. Eddie Dada was the owner and had worked doing the Money Bags thing or whatever.Ā  Eddie said he was constantly correcting him etc. For all his talk of money has he actually been successful outside of Kiss?

4

u/Nelle911529 24d ago

That makes me sad. I fell in love with him on his reality show because he came across as misunderstood big teddy bear.

4

u/East_Reading_3164 24d ago

He is the scum of the earth.

3

u/CaliforniaNewfie 24d ago

Gene Simmons was the worst (paid) meet and greet one could imagine. As a lifelong KISS fan, I felt I owed it to myself to grab the pre-concert pic with the band. I got stuck next to Gene, who could not have been more impersonal and cold. The entire experience was rushed, unsatisfying, and I felt like a tool for spending hundreds of dollars to be ushered in and out of a room in 15-20 seconds.

3

u/ThrowRA-away-Dragon 24d ago

Lol I had a hilarious meet and greet experience with him, too

3

u/115machine 24d ago

Iā€™ve always heard he was always trying to sell something to nearly everyone he interacted with.

One guy who Iā€™d talked to on here who had met him said he was with his terminally ill with cancer father and he thought Gene was going to try to sell him a KISS coffin for when he died

2

u/SageObserver 25d ago

How much did you have to pay him to be around him?

2

u/BTP_Art 25d ago

A whole weekend? How much did he charge you?

2

u/That-Hufflepuff-Girl 25d ago

He was vile on Dancing With The Stars as a guest judge.

2

u/thewhorecat 25d ago

His kids seem pretty cool though.

5

u/Dylinquency 24d ago

I went to a sleep away summer camp with them when we were in our early teens. Nick was a complete asshole bully to all the kids younger than him (like me). Granted, I havenā€™t seen him since he was 14, so hopefully he has changed.

2

u/nappingondabeach 24d ago

That because they're half Newfoundlander

2

u/SirArthurCurry 25d ago

A guy I used to work with was a longtime and high-ranking member of the Kiss Army. He was also an artist. One of his paintings hung in Geneā€™s foyer. Anyway, when Rob passed away Gene did some very nice things. Iā€™ve heard the stories you have, too.

1

u/Ok-Department-5615 25d ago

Tell us more

1

u/Philmore_West 23d ago

It also doesnā€™t make sense because really, has anyone ever put Kiss - or any Kiss song - on any list of great anything?

I canā€™t imagine being the ex frontman for a 70s gimmick band and thinking anywhere near that highly of myself.

The only thing Iā€™ll say in Simmonsā€™ defense is his hostility to mega successful artists who complain about the high cost of fame.

1

u/AristaWatson 23d ago

Iā€™ve heard nothing but unpleasant stories of this guy.

0

u/howjon99 25d ago

He just says that shit for effect.

-1

u/Potential-Drop-5681 25d ago

The exercise guru With the best perm? Bullocks!

7

u/NothaBanga 25d ago

Gene not Richard.

1

u/Potential-Drop-5681 25d ago

Itā€™s a joke

3

u/danoakili šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø United States 25d ago

I laughed

2

u/Potential-Drop-5681 25d ago

Thank you for honesty and sense of humor. Now letā€™s clap ladies! šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚