Gene Simmons, the 76-year-old co-founder of KISS, told TMZ on March 10, 2026, that celebrities including Ben Stiller and Mark Ruffalo should “shut the f*** up” about politics, arguing that wealthy entertainers have no business lecturing ordinary Americans.
A TMZ reporter approached Simmons on the street and asked whether it was fair for actors like Stiller to criticize President Donald Trump’s military strikes on Iran. Simmons responded with sarcasm before turning blunt. “Because everybody in the world should listen to what actors and comedians say because they’re so qualified,” he said, before adding, “Basically, shut the f*** up. Do your art and shut up. Nobody’s interested in your opinions, that includes me. Who I vote for. Who I like.”
He continued, “Who the f*** do you think you are? People in America work hard for a living, and they don’t want to be lectured to by people who live in mansions and drive Rolls-Royces. It’s time for everybody in the entertainment industry to shut their piehole and just do your art. Nobody cares what you think. I don’t.”
Simmons went on to mock Ruffalo, deliberately mispronouncing his name as “Mark Buffalo,” before reiterating, “I don’t care.” He closed by suggesting reporters instead ask Kylie Jenner for her views on the conflict, joking, “Or go to Kylie Jenner and ask her what she thinks of the war so far.”
The comments followed Stiller’s own public pushback after the White House used unlicensed clips from his film Tropic Thunder in a pro-military montage, which he had asked to have removed. Simmons, who was honored alongside the rest of KISS at the Kennedy Center in December by Trump, has otherwise kept his own political views largely private, framing his remarks as a broader complaint about celebrity activism rather than a partisan attack.
