Gene Simmons issued an apology after coming under fire for inflammatory comments he made about his late Kiss bandmate Ace Frehley. “On reflection, I was wrong for using the words I used. I humbly apologize,” Simmons said in a post shared on Wednesday on X.“My hand to God I didn’t intend to hurt Ace or his legacy but upon rereading my words, I see how it hurt everyone,” he added. “Again, I apologize. I’ve always loved Ace. Always.” Frehley, 74, died in October after a fall at his home in New Jersey. A medical report from the Morris County Medical Examiner determined the cause of Frehley’s death was blunt trauma to the head, and ruled the rocker’s manner of death an accident. Gene Simmons cast doubt on whether bandmate Ace Frehley's cause of death was accidental in comments he made to the New York Post earlier this month.KMazur via Getty ImagesSimmons seemed to deny that the cause of death was accidental in comments he made to the New York Post earlier this month. “He refused [advice] from people that cared about him — including yours truly — to try to change his lifestyle. In and out of bad decisions,” the entertainer said. “Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart.” “The saddest thing — you reap what you shall sow unfortunately,” Simmons added. Simmons, who has a reputation for being outspoken, previously opened up about regrets regarding his relationships with Frehley and their other Kiss bandmate Peter Criss. Both Frehley and Criss left and rejoined the band multiple times over the years. (Clockwise from top center) Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss of Kiss.Fin Costello via Getty Images“If I have any regrets, my hand to God, it’s that I sometimes — and I think we all go through this sometimes — wish we were smarter and better at trying to help Ace [Frehley] and Peter [Criss] have better lives,” Simmons told People magazine in an interview in November. He then segued into talking about “bad decisions” and showing people “tough love,” as he explained that he and his bandmates would sometimes try and get through tours for “selfish reasons.” “Let’s just continue doing the tour because you want to get through it for selfish reasons because it’s working, and the chicks, and the money, and you don’t want to ruin anything,” Simmons explained. “Meantime, somebody who might be your brother is ruining their life by bad decisions.”Close