KISS frontman Gene Simmons is certainly making his opinion heard in recent months.

Earlier in the year, he took umbrage with the fact that N.W.A. were being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, adding that he was "looking forward to the death of hip-hop."

Now, the aging rocker has angered Prince fans by calling his death "pathetic" not even a month after he died.

He told Newsweek that David Bowie's death was 'tragic', but did not share the same sentiment for Prince.

"Bowie was the most tragic of all because it was real sickness,” he said. “All the other ones were a choice. [Prince's] drugs killed him. What do you think, he died from a cold?"

He added: "I think Prince was heads, hands and feet above all the rest of them. I thought he left [Michael] Jackson in the dust. Prince was way beyond that. But how pathetic that he killed himself. Don’t kid yourself, that’s what he did. Slowly, I’ll grant you... but that’s what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death.”

Although police have confirmed that prescription painkillers were found on Prince's body, the full results from his post-mortem have not yet been released.

His KISS bandmate Paul Stanley appeared to be embarrassed by Simmons' outburst, tweeting an apology:

 

 

Needless to say, the frontman's comments have not gone down well on social media: