Gene Simmons is good at many things. Wearing platform boots. Painting his face. Marketing his image (wow, you can still get a “Rock and Roll All Nite” toothbrush online!). But subtle, sensitive critiques of the music industry is not one of them.

The KISS founder has recently been in a back-and-forth with rapper Ice Cube about the place of hip-hop in rock and roll, and he’s only revealed himself to be another clueless white guy.

Ice Cube’s legendary hip hop group N.W.A was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in his acceptance speech, Ice Cube responded to recent anti-rap statements of Simmons, saying, “I want to say to Mr. Gene Simmons that hip-hop is here forever.” Simmons took to Twitter to respond:

https://twitter.com/genesimmons/status/718903122874097664

Here’s the thing, Gene. You recently stated that you hate rap, revealing your bias. You don’t want hip hop out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You want it off the airwaves.

Simmons and Ice Cube then engaged in a somewhat awkward Twitter back and forth, with Ice Cube respectfully arguing that hip hop can fall under the umbrella of rock and roll and Simmons arguing about how Led Zeppelin shouldn’t get into the Rap Hall of Fame (for the record, Gene, it’s called the Hip Hop Hall of Fame), so it’s a double standard.

At one point in the conversation, Ice Cube pointed out that rock and roll was originally invented by African Americans, and then co-opted by white-run media. He has carefully explained how evolving black art forms should therefore still fall under that umbrella, and Simmons has, albeit with polite language, shaken his fist at the sky like a white student who complains about affirmative action as a form of “reverse racism.”

It stinks that Simmons has to be the subtly racist white guy who talks down someone else’s culture, who says all things are equal and if KISS doesn’t belong in black culture, N.W.A. doesn’t belong in a genre that became so much whiter than its roots.

It’s embarrassing because Simmons was, as many know, born Chaim Witz in Israel to a Holocaust survivor. When he, an ethnic minority from a background of oppression, is dismissive of the experience of others, he’s broadcasting loud and clear that he’s white, successful, privileged. And while there’s nothing wrong with being those, it’s wrong to disrespect those who are still struggling, and acting like the struggle was never his own. It’s part of the ongoing embarrassing whiteness of Jews in America— a few years of success, and many of us act like we hopped off of the Mayflower and into Ivy League schools.

This whole thing is maybe even worse than when Simmons was rude to Terry Gross, and referred to her as having a “gentile mouth” (she’s Jewish, too).

Gene, stick to singing “I Was Made for Loving You.” Because you were not made for nuance.

Image credit: Wikimedia

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VIRGO (AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 20): An einredenish iz erger vi a krenk: An imaginary illness is worse than a real one.

Practical, dependable, modest, graceful and extremely reserved, Virgo is characterized by the Virgin Maiden, as well as the bird (like all mutable signs, Virgo is “double-bodied”—adaptable and dualistic). As such, your powers of eloquence, composure, precision and tact are to be lauded. However, you are often overly-critical and can strain yourself with your vigilance and inflexiblity—you work hard so that your calm exterior never betrays your anxious interior, and this disconnect can lead to frayed nerves.

Virgos are ruled by the belly and intestines (Kishka). You operate via gut reaction rather than psychic intuition. You thrive when you are solving problems, creating order out of chaos, and otherwise exercising your brain muscles. Your nervousness, however, when unchecked, can lead to hypochondria and extreme anxiety. Obsessed with hygiene and organization, you often bottle up for feelings—feelings are not, after all, very clean and orderly.

With the New Moon in your sign on September 16 (Rosh Hashanah), and a Full (Blue) Moon in Aries on the 30th (Sukkot), and Yom Kippur in between, you may find particular significance in the tashlich ceremony—how very Virgo to systematically cast off your sins to make a clean slate for the New Year!

Famous Virgo Jews: Peter Falk, Leonard Bernstein, Adam Sandler, Alan Dershowitz, Dr. Drew, Gene Simmons, Dorothy Parker (half-Jewish), Sid Caesar, Pink (half-Jewish), Stephen Fry (half-Jewish), Max Greenfield, Lewis Black, Gwyneth Paltrow (half-Jewish)

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 20): It’s healthy to question whether you are getting what you want out of life, but dangerous to assume that the path not taken was the right one. Let life unfold naturally—you’ve been warned!

SCORPIO (OCTOBER 21-NOVEMBER 20): 
Your ruling planet Pluto turns direct on September 18, allowing your subconscious to take a break. Stop ignoring your deepest desires and focusing only on getting through the day, and you’ll gain control of your life (and probably prevent some gray hairs).

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 21-DECEMBER 20): Resentment can build up, preventing you from seeing things for what they are. The New Year will usher in good tidings, allowing you to see with clarity that the decisions you make in life are what shapes it—and you.

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 21-JANUARY 20): Capricorns are the Vulcans of the Zodiac. It’s not that you don’t have feelings, but you play your cards too close to your chest, guarding yourself against anything impractical. You’ve got so much going on inside of you that it would be a crime not to express yourself! New Year, New You!

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21-FEBRUARY 20): Pay extra attention this Yom Kippur—your innate indifference can blind you to your own foibles. Once you open up to the possibility that some of this may be your doing, you’ll be more conscious of how to fix it.

PISCES (FEBRUARY 21-MARCH 20): You adorable luftmensh, you! The retrograde triple threat in the slow moving planets makes your psychic abilities so keen that it may be painful. Use this time to sift through these psychic energies, and you’ll begin to reap what you’ve sown throughout the year.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 20): Rosh Hashanah literally means “the head of the year”—and Aries heads the zodiac in Western astrology. Brandish your shofar and hark the herald! You may be the bold brazen ram, but think about relinquishing some of your control. There’s plenty of time to bemoan a bad fortune once it arrives.

TAURUS (APRIL 21- MAY 20): Surround yourself with people you trust and be direct with what you need from others. They’ll be more willing to help if you know what you want and aren’t afraid to ask for it. True love will come when the time is right. Until it does, remember this: you better work!

GEMINI (MAY 21- JUNE 20): Although Mental Mercury makes you a bit of a macher, you’d better give up on your scheme to harness time. That’s never going to happen. Your versatility and inquisitive nature make you a perfect candidate for embracing the energies of the universe and working with them, not against them.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 20): Sages have said it is unwise to speculate on the unknowable, and for many Cancers this includes other people. You ought to exercise your empathy muscles and cast your sins of dogmatic prejudice into the river of new beginnings—you’ll be surprised by how much others want to include you in their lives.

LEO (JULY 21-AUGUST 20): For this you went to college? Although you may feel you are about to burst from the fear that you’ll never move beyond your current circumstances, it’s time to put up or shut up—tokhis oyfn tish. Big changes this month beseech you to keep your eyes on the prize, you Lucky Leo.

The post Jewcy Horoscopes: Virgo, the Anxious Maiden (August 21-September 20) appeared first on Jewcy.

• Rachel Dratch: Too Jewish for the prairie?

• Shahs of Sunset cast member Reza Farahan says he’s the Persian Paris Hilton.

• Barbara Walters will host Betty White’s May 14 Friars Club Roast.

• Gene Simmons wants you to feel like a rock star at his restaurant.

The post Daily Jewce: The Persian Paris Hilton, Too Jewish for the Prairie, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

When a blog designed as a place where “Jewish women converse” says Gene Simmons is the Jewish husband of the year, you need to finally admit that the landscape is very bleak in terms of strong Jewish characters on television.  Plenty of TV is written, produced and acted by Jews, but if it’s 2010 and “a studded codpiece-wearing demon” is all we’ve got, I’d say something is very wrong.

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