Kiss dropped from Michael Jackson tribute concert

Wed, 17 Aug 2011

At the beginning of the week, concert promoters Global Live Events announced glam-rockers KISS would be joining the line up for the October 8th Michael Jackson Tribute concert in Cardiff, Wales.

However just one day later, the band been pulled from the event calling the booking an "oversight", after they discovered controversial comments about the late Michael Jackson by KISS bassist Gene Simmons from an interview last year with Classic Rock Magazine, Billboard.com reports.

The comments in question were about the molestation charges that the performer had been acquitted of after a trial in 2005, Gene Simmons had said to the magazine that, "Well, you know, where there's smoke there's fire. There's no question in my mind he molested those kids. Not a doubt."

In a statement yesterday, CEO of Global Events Live Chris Hunt has accepted the blame for the booking 'oversight' and said, "Under the circumstances, we fully agree that even though Kiss is a band Michael admired, we have no choice but to rescind our invitation to them to appear in our tribute concert."

The band have not commented on the situation.
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