Nikki Sixx is flipping out over Gene Simmons’ bid to trademark rock’s iconic ‘horns’ hand gesture.
Motley Crue alum Sixx hit up Twitter to offer a cheeky take on the KISS bassist’s effort on Thursday.
“Thinking of trademarking [middle finger icon],” the musician wrote.
Sixx later responded to a tweet suggesting that he seems “angry lately” with the message, “Don’t misunderstand my sarcasm for anger my friend…I know your wife didn’t…”
Thinking of trademarking “??-?????”
— Nikki Sixx (@NikkiSixx) June 15, 2017
This isn’t the first time that Sixx has taken aim at Simmons. In 2014, after the KISS bassist suggested that depressed people should kill themselves, Sixx tweeted, “I struggled with addiction and depression but found recovery. Would you be happy if I killed myself instead?Also my 4 kids wouldnt [have] been born.”
He added, “I wonder if @genesimmons would still say how depressed people or addicts should kill themselves if it happend to his wife or kids?”
Sixx isn’t the only one who thinks Simmons’ application to trademark the hand gesture, which was filed June 9, is joke-worthy. On Thursday, the widow of singer Ronnie James Dio, who’s widely credited with popularizing the hand gesture, called the musician’s effort “disgusting.”
“To try to make money off of something like this is disgusting,” Wendy Dio told TheWrap. “It belongs to everyone; it doesn’t belong to anyone … It’s a public domain; it shouldn’t be trademarked.”
Dio, who emphasized that her husband shouldn’t be credited with creating the gesture either, added, “It’s laughable, I think, quite honestly … I think he’s made a complete fool of himself.”