WINNIPEG-A popular Winnipeg rock radio station has decided it will no longer play any music by KISS after comments made by Gene Simmons on mental health and suicide surfaced.
Power 97 host, TJ Connors, first tweeted #BanGene after he read the following statement from Simmons which was first published on songfacts.com:
“ For a putz 20-year-old kid to say, ‘I’m depressed. I live in Seattle.’ F*** you, then kill yourself. I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. I’m the guy who says ‘Jump’ when there’s a guy on top of a building who says, ‘That’s it, I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to jump.’ Are you kidding? Why are you announcing it? Shut the f*** up, have some dignity and jump! You’ve got the crowd.
“By the way, you walk up to the same guy on a ledge who threatens to jump and put a gun to his head, ‘I’m going to blow your f***in’ head off.’ He’ll go, ‘Please don’t.’ It’s true. He’s not that insane.”
Connors’ station manager later announced the station would no longer play KISS music. The hashtag #BanGene trended across Canada.
Simmons has since apologized for his remarks about depression on the Rolling Stone’s website following a social media uproar that lead a local radio station to ban the band.
The KISS front man wrote: “I was wrong and in the spur of the moment made remarks that in hindsight were made without regard for those who truly suffer the struggles of depression. I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments.”
Even with the apology, Power 97 still plans to ban KISS.
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