KISS frontman Paul Stanley has blasted anti-vaxxers in Kansas for comparing COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, after a group of protesters wore yellow stars to a government hearing.
According to The Kansas City Star, a former Kansas City, Kansas, mayoral candidate donned a yellow star on Friday (November 12) to testify on Kansas lawmakers’ plan to combat federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Daran Duffy, who finished last in a five-candidate mayoral primary field in August, told lawmakers he’d worn a yellow star as a reminder that “every single thing that Hitler did he did in accordance with the laws of his country.” Nazi authorities forced Jews to wear yellow stars on their clothing as a means of identification in the 1930s and 1940s.
Duffy later defended his stance, stating that the U.S. was headed toward a catastrophe like the Holocaust when challenged by Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat.
On Friday, Stanley, who is Jewish, shared a tweet about protesters wearing yellow stars to Friday’s hearing, and he included the following message: “APPALLING. This is despicable. Stupidity is no excuse for being ignorant. I grieve for 6 MILLION JEWS who suffered and perished only to be trivialized by a bunch of morons who surely MUST have the capacity to read and know better. Stunned.”
Back in March, Stanley told AXS TV‘s “At Home And Social” that he was “so excited and so thankful” to receive his second COVID-19 vaccine. “I’d like [to see] everybody just get back to a normal life,” he said at the time. “It’s been devastating for so many people. For us who are inconvenienced, it’s minor compared to what some people have gone through.”
Stanley also criticized people who were defiantly skeptical of mask wearing, saying they were posing a risk to themselves and to all those around them.
“Part of the problem is that we haven’t adhered properly to what should be common sense restrictions,” he said. “And as long as there are people who are negating what’s being told to them, this [coronavirus crisis] is gonna extend further.
“We’re supposed to be a community. And if there’s the slightest possibility that it would be the right thing to do, shouldn’t you do it?” he asked rhetorically.
Last month, Stanley, who often tweets about political issues to his 609,000 followers, weighed in on the controversy that erupted after a district leader in Texas asked teachers to offer students books with an “opposing perspective” of the Holocaust. Stanley tweeted at the time: “This is so FUCKED. There will ALWAYS be ‘opposing views’ but there are NEVER opposing FACTS.”
TWISTED SISTER‘s Jay Jay French agreed, chiming in in a tweet: “completely insane. and you can thank Trump for unleashing the stupids”.
APPALLING. This is despicable. Stupidity is no excuse for being ignorant. I grieve for 6 MILLION JEWS who suffered and perished only to be trivialized by a bunch of morons who surely MUST have the capacity to read and know better. Stunned. https://t.co/oEMGtOx6Ei
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) November 13, 2021