Gene Simmons, the vocalist, bassist and one of the Kiss leaders, responded on Sunday (17) to allegations of harassment he received from a woman interviewing him at a California restaurant opening in November. In a statement on his social networks, the 68-year-old musician denies the harassment and says he looks forward to the day he is going to prove in court that he is innocent.
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A woman filed a lawsuit against the rocker claiming to have been harassed by him during an interview at the opening of one of Rock & Brews’ restaurants, of which Simmons is a partner with Paul Stanley. He would have touched her inappropriately several times, bruised her throat and forced her to place her hands on his knees. The victim preferred to remain anonymous.
Last month, two women shared stories on Twitter of encounters with Simmons. The first, actress Mary E. McGlynn, said that, in a studio, she went to shake Simmons’ hand, and he responded by pointing to his penis and saying, “That’s the fun machine.”
Comics artist Tess Fowler saw McGlynn’s tweet and described meeting Simmons at San Diego Comic Con in 2004. ‘He hugged me and then told me I was keeping the candy away from him (hugging with just my upper body),” she wrote. “He grabbed my hips and thrust against me.” When asked at the time for comment on these two claims a representative for Mr. Simmons stated, “The response is simple.. that absolutely did NOT happen.”
I was hesitant to tweet this, but it has to stop. This happened to me today when I ran into Gene Simmons. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/P3oSyae2nj
— Mary E. McGlynn (@MaryEMcGlynn) November 18, 2017
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