KISS frontman Gene Simmons said celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo and Ben Stiller need to “shut the f*** up” about politics, delivering the comments during a TMZ interview on Tuesday after being asked whether it was fair for actors like Stiller to criticize President Donald Trump over military strikes on Iran.
Simmons dismissed the question sarcastically, remarking, “Because everybody in the world should listen to what actors and comedians say because they’re so qualified.” He went further in the same interview, telling TMZ, “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, 76, also singled out Ruffalo by name, mispronouncing him as “Mark Buffalo,” for frequently weighing in on politics, before adding once more, “I don’t care.” He went on to joke that people should instead “go to Kylie Jenner and ask her what she thinks of the war so far.”
The remarks followed Stiller’s public clash with the White House, which had posted a clip from his 2008 film Tropic Thunder to promote the administration’s military actions in Iran. Stiller had written on X asking the White House to remove the clip, saying he had no interest in being part of what he called a propaganda machine. Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for both Ruffalo and Stiller for comment but did not immediately hear back.
