KISS Frontman Gene Simmons Visits White House, Tells Story Of Holocaust Survivor Mom

Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS visited the White House and Pentagon on Thursday.

“Just another Thursday at the White House. @genesimmons is here. Said he’s visiting his ‘favorite secret service agent’ but did not answer q if he’s meeting with @realDonaldTrump,” tweeted a CBS News producer, along with a video showing Simmons, clad in black leather pants and jacket, strolling the grounds of the north entrance with his wife, Shannon Tweed.

The 69-year-old rocker was on hand to address Department of Defense personnel and meet with outreach officials as part of a Pentagon initiative to engage the broader public with regards to military activities.

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Earlier, Simmons was at a veterans event at the Pentagon, where he thanked American troops for their service.

McClatchy journalist Tara Copp reported that Simmons gave an emotional speech to a room full of service members, recounting his mother’s experience surviving a concentration camp.

In video from McClatchy, the KISS frontman is seen discussing his mother’s Holocaust survival story. “I’m a proud son of a concentration camp survivor, Nazi Germany. My mother was 14 when she was in the camps.”

He went on to discuss how his mother would cry when she saw the American flag and his gratittude for coming to America.

“As an 8 year old boy, I didn’t understand why. But from my mother’s point of view, we were finally safe,” Simmons continued. “I may have been born in the country that people have referred to throughout history as the promised land, but take my word for it, America is the promised land for everybody.”

His speech marks only the second on-camera press briefing at the Department of Defense in the last year.

“The White House hasn’t held press briefing in so long that the lectern in the briefing room is quite literally gathering dust,” CNN White House reporter Maegan Vazquez tweeted Wednesday, posting a photo of the particles that had collected on the lectern.