A classic Hollywood story involves Gene Simmons of Kiss. In the late ’90s, as co-owner of the Fox Family Channel, Saban was developing shows for children. Simmons, the fire-breathing, blood-spitting frontman of a rock band in costumes and face paint, pitched Saban an idea for a new Saturday-morning cartoon: Kiss meets X-Men, the Marvel comics superhero team. Saban liked the concept well enough to convene a meeting with Avi Arad, then C.E.O. of Marvel’s toy division. At the appointed time, Saban, Arad, and Simmons sat down. The meeting was going well, and the three began to haggle over numbers. Then Saban turned to Arad and, referring to Simmons, confided in Hebrew, “Now we gut him like a fish.” Without missing a beat, Simmons—who, unbeknownst to Saban, was born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel—replied in Hebrew, “You asshole. I’m one of you.”
Amy Wallace, in a 2008 profile of Haim Saban
