After the former Van Halen frontman posted a social media image of a young boy extending his middle finger to the camera, the Kiss bassist stresses that he had no intention of hurting his feeling.

• Aug 26, 2021

AceShowbiz - Gene Simmons has apologized to former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth for suggesting the singer is past his prime.

The "Jump" star has been dumped as Kiss' opening act for their ongoing "End of the Road" farewell tour dates, and Simmons recently hinted in an interview that "Diamond Dave" has no longer got what it takes as a performer.

"He took being a frontman way beyond anything, and then, I don't know what happened to him," Gene told Rolling Stone. "And you get modern-day Dave. I prefer to remember Elvis Presley in his prime. Sneering lips, back in Memphis, you know, doing all that. I don't want to think of bloated naked Elvis on the bathroom floor."

Roth took to Instagram over the weekend (August 21 to 22) to share an image of a young boy wearing shades and extending his middle finger to the camera, along with the words "Roth to Simmons."

Now the Kiss star has addressed the drama, telling Us Weekly his words were misconstrued.

"I am so sorry and ashamed, actually, that I hurt David's feelings," Gene said. "I'm the guy, actually, that saw Van Halen at a club, signed them to my production company, flew them to New York, produced their first 24-track, 15-song demo and championed the band."

"We took David out as our opening act on the tour and in the course of an interview... You hear me talking. I just sort of stream of consciousness... I don't mean to hurt people's feelings, and every once in a while, diarrhea of the mouth comes out [sic]."

"I read that quote, and somehow the way they put it together... I think I said something like, 'Nobody touched David in his prime - not Robert Plant, not [Mick] Jagger, not anybody... He was the king.' And then somehow there was a segue to Elvis, bloated on the ground and fat and naked, and I don't wanna see that."

"I wasn't talking about David, but that doesn't matter. What matters is I hurt David's feelings, and that's more important than the intent. So I sincerely apologize for that. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings... But in the way the words came out, yeah, I could see where that was the impression. Not my intention."