--- title: "Gene Simmons to the Unvaccinated: “You Are an Enemy”" description: "It shouldn't be so surprising that Kiss legend Gene Simmons is loudly in support of vaccines, but it's 2021, and here we are." date: "2021-11-12" modified: "2021-11-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/gene-simmons-unvaccinated-enemy" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "entertainment" - "kiss" - "the digest" --- # Gene Simmons to the Unvaccinated: “You Are an Enemy” ![It shouldn't be so surprising that Kiss legend Gene Simmons is loudly in support of vaccines, but it's 2021, and here we are.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* It shouldn't be so surprising that Kiss legend Gene Simmons is loudly in support of vaccines, but here we are. In an interview published on [celebrity video streaming startup TalkShopLive](), the rock star panned "delusional" anti-vaxxers for putting the people around them at risk. "If you're willing to walk among us unvaccinated," Simmons said, "you are an enemy." "I don't care about your political beliefs," he added. "You are not allowed to infect anybody just because you think you've got rights that are delusional." For Simmons, the outrage is justifiably personal: both [he and his fellow Kiss frontman Paul Stanley caught breakthrough COVID]() in late August after being vaccinated. And earlier in the year, [a guitar tech for the band died]() from the deadly virus. Simmons really went off in the interview — as he [tends to do]() — likening anti-vaxxers to people who speed through red lights and ignore traffic laws. "I don't want to catch your disease," Simmons raged. "I don't want to risk my life just because you want to 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." Being himself, however, the Kiss singer couldn't helping taking potshots at "both sides" of the "evil" political spectrum, accusing Democrats and Republicans alike of spouting "all kinds of nonsense." "Politics are the enemy," he said, reminding us all that he lived through the 60s. "Humanism and humanity is what we should all be concerned about. Love thy neighbor as thyself." He went on to compare so-called "vaccine skeptics" to Flat Earthers, blasting them for claiming that the estimated five million people who have died so far of COVID somehow dropped dead for other reasons. "No, bitch, they died because they got COVID," Simmons said. Latent glamness and vulgarity aside, Simmons' stance on the vaccine culture war is refreshing given that so many other celebrities, like [Eric Clapton]() and [Matthew freakin' McConaughey](), are publicly railing against vaccine mandates. **He's not wrong:** *[WHO: Anti-Vaxxers Now One of the Greatest Threats to World]()* **More on the man himself:** *[Google News' "Genetics" Section Is Full of Articles About People Named Gene]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()