Kiss have now been removed from the lineup of the upcoming Michael Jackson tribute concert as a result of fan uproar over Gene Simmons' previous pedophilia accusations regarding the deceased pop star.

Simmons minced no words back in 2009 when asked if he thought Jackson was guilty of sexually abusing children, saying among other things, "There's no question in my mind he molested those kids" -- and that has now cost his band a chance to play at the Oct. 8 concert in Wales. Although, you have to wonder, if he believes those words, why does he want to pay tribute to Jackson anyway?

The promoters of the event, 'Michael Forever: The Tribute Concert,' issued a statement to TMZ, saying "We have listened to Michael's fans and are grateful to have been alerted to these unfortunate statements by Gene Simmons.  Under the circumstances we fully agree that even though Kiss is a band Michael admired we have no choice but to rescind our invitation to them to appear in our tribute concert."

After fans took to the event's facebook page to protest the inclusion of Kiss on the lineup, representatives from the singer's estate fired also off an angry letter to the promoters, calling the booking "extraordinarily embarrassing" and demanding the band's removal from the bill.

Which is a shame, because we were really looking forward to Gene's live version of 'P.Y.T.'

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