In a recent interview, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons attributes a series of “bad decisions” to the recent death of his former bandmate Ace Frehley.

Frehley, the band’s founding lead guitarist, suffered multiple skull fractures and a brain bleed after a fall at his home studio on September 25. He was placed on a ventilator but showed no signs of improvement, and on October 16, his family removed him from life support. An autopsy determined that the cause of Frehley’s death was accidental blunt force trauma.

Although Frehley repeatedly stated he had been sober for about 20 years prior to his death, Simmons claimed the guitarist ‘refused [advice] from people that cared about him – including yours truly – to try to change his lifestyle.’ Simmons told the New York Post, “In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart.”

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In 2016, Simmons made similar remarks following the death of Prince. “How pathetic that he killed himself,” he stated. “Don’t kid yourself, that’s what he did. Slowly, I’ll grant you – but that’s what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death.”

After facing public backlash, including criticism from his own bandmate Paul Stanley who called Simmons’ comments “cold (and) clueless,” the founding Kiss bassist issued an apology regarding his remarks about Prince. “I just got such s— from my family for my big mouth again,” Simmons explained. “I apologize — I have a long history of getting very angry at what drugs do to the families/friends of the addicts.”