Gene Simmons Calls Critic a Jealous Loser

has brutally branded several fans as 'jealous losers' after they criticised his preoccupation with increasing his multi-million dollar fortune.

The KISS star, 76, has branched out from music into the movie industry, after joining forces with Gary Hamilton to create a new production company - Simmons/Hamilton Productions.

He has stepped into the role of producer for the first time with survival thriller Deep Water, which is due to hit screens on May 1, and took to X at the weekend to promote the movie.

Starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley, the film centres on a group of international passengers onboard a flight from to Shanghai, who are forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters.

Wearing a branded baseball cap, Gene shared a video telling fans to 'buckle up because this is going to be a thrill ride like you've never seen' and teased that he was going to show up unannounced at theatres across the country to watch with them.

However, a KISS fan appeared to be less than impressed by the rocker's new project and accused him of being greedy, as they mockingly tweeted him: 'Don’t you have ENOUGH money yet Gene???'

However, the bassist and singer was decidedly not amused by the joke, as he unleashed a series of fiery defensive tweets and blasted the commenter as 'a loser'.

He hit back: 'This is a loser’s question. Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk all get up every day and try to make more. No matter how much they’ve got. Get out of your losers’s mentality, and try to win in life, every day.'

However, more users got involved to question the star placing importance on wealth, with one asking: 'Why does making more equal to winning in life?'

Gene argued that cashing in for himself meant he was stimulating the economy, could donate more to charities and was able to help other people support their families, blasting his critics by adding: 'What have you accomplished in life?'

He claimed that he'd paid more than $100 million in taxes, created thousands of jobs that allowed people to feed their families and contributed the several causes, including supporting 1400 African children

While he said that the role of men was to work to provide or else they were losers with 'no purpose in life', while taking a swipe as transgender rights by sardonically adding he was referring to the 'old-fashioned kind men with penises'. 

'Because by earning more, you create more jobs, by spending more money, which provides other people with being able to support their families,' he said. 'Without earning more, you can’t even give to charity, much less support your family.'

'Men (the old-fashioned kind, with penises) can’t give birth, despite you may have heard. But what we can do, is produce, work, provide and protect. Without the above, you have no purpose in life, think like a winner, not a loser.'

In response to one person asking why he couldn't retire, he asked: 'Retire? And do what?' causing someone else to point out that many struggle to be able to retire and say that Gene was unable to understand the perspective of office and blue collar workers.

But the artist angrily declared that he had worked several day jobs before finding success in KISS, including teaching sixth grade and serving as an assistant at Vogue.

'Well…I started working at 12 years of age working for a butcher, grinding the fat from the butcher’s block,' he wrote. 'I delivered newspapers. I was the assistant to the director of the Puerto Rican interagency council. I was the assistant of the editor of Vogue magazine. And I was a 6th grade teacher. And what have you done with your life, Chad?'

And when someone urged him to be more like Kurt Vonnegut, with a quote from the author about the importance of 'the knowledge that you've  got enough', Gene argued people should instead be more like him as he was 'living proof of the American dream' after coming to the States as an immigrant with nothing.

He wrote: 'No. Be like me. I came to America as a legal immigrant. My mother and I had nothing. In America, bless her, gave me to the opportunity to work as hard as I wanted to. And I am living proof, that the American dream is not only alive, but alive and well. You can sit on your thumb, if you want to. Personally, I never want to stop.' 

Netizens continued to share criticisms, calling him a 'fool that is ignoring other aspects of personhood', while another tweeted: 'Old men facing impending death like Gene Simmons hoard wealth and relate with other old men that do the same as compensation. You can’t take it with you Gene.'

But Gene continued to not hold back, as he branded the writer 'a jealous loser', adding: 'You don’t understand, sadly. That was this do some research and find out why the richest and most powerful people on the planet, continue to work hard to try to make more, so they can give more and create more.' 

He ended his furious defense by instructing critics to mind their own business rather than focusing on his wealth and career decisions, as he declared he never wanted to stop making more for his family and America.

Signing off, he wrote: 'How about this. Stop looking at my plate and mind your own business. What makes me happy, is to never stop, and continue to add value to my family, their future generations, to charity, and to these blessed United States of America. Sending good wishes to you.'

Gene has a reported net worth of around $400 million thanks to his career as the bassist and co-lead singer of KISS.

He has built up much of his wealth through licensing deals under the KISS name, which according to The Hollywood Reporter, has generated a whopping $1 billion for the band, since they formed in 1973.

In 2024, the groups entire song catalogue, image, makeup/likeness and name was sold to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment for $300 million.

Pophouse has announced plans to create digital avatars of the band members for future virtual concerts, similar to ABBA Voyage, with a show planned for 2027.

It comes after Gene came under fire on social media for comments he made criticizing the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for admitting hip-hop artists.