LOS ANGELES - A cease-and-desist letter from an attorney for Gene Simmons to the gossip website ValleyWag.com confirms the man in a sex video posted on the site GenesSecret.com is in fact KISS bassist Gene Simmons.
However, the letter states, the video was "surreptitiously filmed without Mr. Simmons' knowledge by a woman named Traci Ann Koval."
Editorial copy on the GenesSecret.com site identifies the blonde woman in the video with Simmons as "Elsa," an Austrian woman and spokesmodel for Frank's Energy Drink, which Simmons endorses on his own website, GeneSimmons.com. It is unclear from the cease-and-desist letter if Koval is in fact "Elsa."
The letter to Valley Wag, sent by attorney Barry E. Mallen of the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, states Simmons and his company Allied Industry acquired rights to the video in 2003.
"Accordingly, Mr. Simmons and Allied Industries collectively control all rights in and to the Video and demand that valleywag.com cease and desist all streaming, exhibition, exploitation and distribution of the Video and still images from or relating to the Video, and that the original and all copies sent directly to me, that valleywag.com account to and pay to Allied Industry all monies received to date from the exploitation of the Video, if any, and that you disclose to us the source from which the Video was obtained," the letter states.
ValleyWag.com published the letter in its entirety and issued its response on the site.
"The short clips we posted are newsworthy and will not be taken down."
For the second day in a row, Simmons addressed his fans with a short comment on his personal website.
" Once again, thank you (and I can't say it enough) for your overwhelming support for The Family and myself. Your emails have been gracious and I am humbled," he wrote Thursday. "Onward. Today is a new day."
Simmons made a name for himself in the flashy, makeup-covered band KISS, not only for his musical talents, but also for his long tongue and sexual conquests. Simmons claims to have slept with more than 4,600 women.
Simmons' popularity soared again with the hit reality TV show "Gene Simmons' Family Jewels," which airs on the cable channel A&E and documents the rocker's business exploits and interactions with his son Nick, daughter Sophie and longtime live-in girlfriend and former Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed.
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