ACE FREHLEY Says He Recently Spoke With PAUL STANLEY

Ace Frehley says that he has had no contact with Gene Simmons since his social media outburst in which the ex-KISS guitarist called his former bandmate an "asshole and a sex addict."

Before KISS's "End Of The Road" tour launched in January, Frehley addressed some comments Simmons made about about a possible reunion of the band's original lineup, dismissing Gene's claim that Ace had been fired from KISS three times (he says he quit),alleging that Simmons groped Ace's wife, Rachel, during one of the bassist's "Vault Experience" events in Los Angeles and accusing Simmons and KISS frontman Paul Stanley of trying "to derail my solo career multiple times over the years." After the allegations, he included a threat: "Without a complete and heartfelt apology, an offer to give me my old job back and removing Tommy [Thayer] from the throne I created, the shit will hit the fan and they'll [sic] be no stopping it. It's on!!!" He concluded the post with an image of him pointing at a camera emblazoned with the words, "The gloves are off!!"

Asked in a new interview with Alan K. Stout of The Weekender in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania if he has had a chance to try and mend things with Simmons, Ace said: "I have had no contact with Gene, and Gene hasn't commented on Rachel's accusations. He hasn't said 'Yay' or 'Nay' or denied it, or apologized. It's just very unsettling and an unfortunate situation that that had to go down. I don't know the specifics, exactly, because I did not witness anything. In reality, talking hypothetically, if Rachel decided to sue Gene … in the court of law, I would have to have to say, if they put me on the stand, that I did not witness anything. It's a tough situation. And that's all I really have to say about it."

Frehley added that he has had some contact with Stanley, who wrote in his latest book, "Backstage Pass", that he is glad to have rekindled a friendship with Ace.

"I spoke with Paul last week," Frehley told The Weekender. "I just touched base. He didn't really want to talk about the feud between me and Gene. I heard he'd said some nice things [in the book], and I actually sent him a text thanking him for the kind words …. That's what prompted me to get a hold of him and thank him, and wish him luck on the European tour that they're on right now. I always try to keep the door open."

This past February, Simmons told the Los Angeles Times that he didn't want to go into detail about Ace's explosive remarks. "I'm not gonna say anything in print other than I love Ace and Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer] and I thank them forever — they're every bit as important as Paul and myself for launching the band," he said. "I'm not going to make any guesses of why the emotions are so volatile, but it's happened before."

Stanley — who guested on Frehley's 2016 album "Origins, Vol. 1" — told Billboard he was aware of Frehley's January 2019 comments but was "not sidetracked by anything. I have no comment about that."

Frehley recently completed work on "Origins Vol. 2", the sequel to his 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the former KISS guitarist. The LP, which is tentatively due later this year, will feature guest appearances by Lita Ford (singing "Jumping Jack Flash") and CHEAP TRICK's Robin Zander (singing HUMBLE PIE's "30 Days In The Hole").