KISS bassist Gene Simmons had two official websites forced offline on Wednesday (October 13), after an online attack group targeted him over his comments on illegal file sharing.

Anonymous, a group who have recently targeted the websites of copyright protection bodies such as Copyright Alliance, forced Simmonsrecords.com and Genesimmons.com to go offline for a short period of time.

Simmons had angered the group with comments made whilst sitting on a panel about building a successful entertainment brand last Tuesday (October 12).

He referred to illegal downloaders as “freckle-faced college kids”, and called on the music industry to get tougher on file sharers, “Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars. Don’t let anybody cross that line.” 

Watch a performance from KISS on their UK tour earlier this year: