Kiss' Paul Stanley Slammed For Twitter Rant On Gender-Affirming Care

Twitter users, including Offspring guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, criticized the Kiss frontman for his "very disappointing take."
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Kiss frontman Paul Stanley shared his unprompted “thoughts” on gender-affirming care for minors in a lengthy social media post on Sunday ― and immediately faced backlash for mischaracterizing it as a “game.”

The singer and guitarist shared his message on Twitter and Instagram, attacking parents for “normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle” that he claimed is confusing children about their identities.

Besides inaccurately describing a person’s gender identity as a “lifestyle,” Stanley’s rant used several other false tropes that are commonly meant to delegitimize trans identities, including a reference to “play[ing] dress up” and conflating gender with sex and sexuality.

Several Twitter users slammed Stanley for his post, including Keith Olbermann, who scolded the rock star for referring to gender-affirming care for minors as a “game.”

“It’s not a ‘game,’ you asshole. What you do is a GAME. What they face ― internally and now externally due to stupid panicky fascists like you, externally ― is an excruciating ordeal,” Olbermann wrote.

Other musicians, including Offspring guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, pointed out that Kiss’ wardrobe famously toyed with gender norms.

“This is a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high-heels, makeup, & teased up hair his whole career,” Wasserman wrote. “As a young kid your band helped teach me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I guess it was just gimmickry after all.”

NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins also noted Stanley’s hypocrisy given the band’s aesthetic choices. Read his and other comments below:

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