Richard Simmons’ family is hitting out at actor and comedian Pauly Shore, who cast doubt on whether the late fitness icon was actually behind his own social media posts.
Simmons, a beloved figure known for his eccentric personality and workout videos, was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home on July 13, one day after his 76th birthday. His family confirmed his death in a statement, saying: “We are in shock.”
His cause of death is under investigation pending a report from the medical examiner, Los Angeles police said this month.
Shore made headlines for his plans to play Simmons in a biopic about his life, developed at the Wolper Organization, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. However, Simmons had said on social media in January that he never gave permission to Shore for the movie.
In a recent interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Shore cast doubt on whether Simmons, who became a recluse in recent years, was even behind his social media posts.
"I know he wanted me to do it," he said of the biopic. "I don’t even know if that was him tweeting the whole time. I don’t know who that was," Shore said.
Those comments drew ire from Simmons’ camp.
His staff wrote Wednesday on X: "Pauly Shore has recently made comments to Entertainment Tonight concerning his attempts to proceed with an unauthorized movie about Richard. You’ve seen here on Richard’s account what he had to say about the biopic."
In a following post, the account shared a statement from Simmons’ brother, Lenny Simmons, that said: “Dicky absolutely wrote his own posts.”
“He worked on them a week in advance, going over and over them to get the right message,” he said. “He would often read them to Cathy and I beforehand. What he has NOT done was to text, email or call Pauly with anything; not even to wish him 'Good Luck' as Pauly has stated many times.”
Simmons, who was known for his bubbly persona and “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” workout videos, rose to fame in the 1970s and ’80s after he opened gyms and made frequent appearances on television talk shows.