Gene Simmons Still Needling Ace Frehley After His Death

In a new interview, KISS bassist Gene Simmons blames a series of "bad decisions" for contributing to the recent death of his former bandmate Ace Frehley.

Frehley, the band's founding lead guitarist, suffered multiple skull fractures and a brain bleed after a Sept. 25 fall at his home studio. He was placed on a ventilator but showed no signs of improvement, and on Oct. 16 his family removed him from life support. An autopsy declared the cause of Frehley's death to be accidental blunt force trauma.

Although Frehely repeated stated he had been sober for about 20 years prior to his death, Simmons declared the guitarist 'refused [advice] from people that cared about him – including yours truly – to try to change his lifestyle," Simmons told the New York Post. "In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues and it breaks my heart."

READ MORE: KISS' Guitarists All Reflect on the Life + Legacy of Ace Frehley

In 2016 Simmons made similar comments after the death of Prince. "How pathetic that he killed himself," he declared. "Don't kid yourself, that's what he did. Slowly, I'll grant you - but that's what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death."

After a public uproar that included his own bandmate Paul Stanley calling Simmons' comments "cold (and) clueless," the founding KISS bassist issued an apology for those comments about Prince. "I just got such shit from my family for my big mouth again," Simmons explained. "I apologize ‚ I have a long history of getting very angry at what drugs do to the families/friends of the addicts."