title:  Fox News Bans Gene Simmons For Life For Harassing Staff Off Camera
text: Gene Simmons, the 68-year-old Kiss bassist and co-lead singer, contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice for a grand total of three episodes back in 2008, self-proclaimed womanizer, and all-around poster-boy for washed up, aging rock stars who will stop at nothing to keep their names in the rapidly-diminishing spotlight, has stooped to a new low in his battle against irrelevancy   He has been given a lifetime ban from Fox News.When it comes to Fox News, the network has a tendency to be a little lenient on the issue of behavior of sexual nature, a reputation that screams  Hold my beer!  to a man like Gene Simmons. On what was far from his first appearance on the network, Simmons was a guest last Wednesday on Fox and Friends, as well as Fox Business Network s Mornings With Maria, to promote his new book, On Power. Gene Simmons, who claims to know Donald Trump  very well  and that the current President s critics should  get over it,  couldn t be faulted for his onscreen appearance, even helping with the weather report:MUST SEE: @genesimmons helps @JaniceDean with the weather! pic.twitter.com/EFfRQESNuq  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) November 15, 2017Simmons also sat on a panel with Mornings With Maria host Maria Bartiromo and gave his view on the Harvey Weinstein sexual-misconduct case. The lunatics have taken over the insane asylum when respected business entities such as yourself ask guys that like to stick their tongues out what I think of Harvey Weinstein,  Simmons answered.  Okay, I m a powerful and attractive man, and what I m about to say is deadly serious,  he added.  Men are jackasses. From the time we re young we have testosterone. I m not validating it or defending it. As is always the case, however, it was when the cameras weren t rolling that things began to get creepy and also quite hypocritical. According to a knowledgeable Fox News source, Simmons arrived on the studio s fourteenth floor to do an interview with FoxNews.com s entertainment section to promote his book, but also chose to walk into a staff meeting uninvited, opened his shirt and shouted,  Hey chicks, sue me! He didn t stop there, though. The source claims he went on to tell pedophilia-related Michael Jackson jokes, hit two employees on the head with his book while making comparisons on their intelligence based on the sounds, and asked an African-American employee if he was Al Roker.  It was pretty severe,  the source said.Simmons  behavior was reported to a supervisor, who in turn passed the news on to Fox News human-resources executive Kevin Lord, who promptly banned Simmons from the building. He was also permanently barred from appearing on any Fox News or Fox Business Networkprogramming.It seems that Gene Simmons may have had a change of heart over the past week, as he has released the following statement: I have appeared frequently over the years on various Fox News and Fox Business programs and have a tremendous amount of respect for the talented women and men who work there. While I believe that what is being reported is highly exaggerated and misleading, I am sincerely sorry that I unintentionally offended members of the Fox team during my visit. Although Simmons  interview with FoxNews.com was recorded, it will not be released.Featured image via Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images