This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.

When GenesSecret.com burst upon the scene on Tuesday, we questioned whether it really featured Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, or just a lookalike. The revolution of the gossip culture wrought by the Web has transformed the consumption of celebrity lives. Since Paris Hilton went exposed, we're awash in fake sex-tape videos. But Simmons's own lawyers have now confirmed that the video on GenesSecret.com is the real deal. The pantsless, T-shirt-wearing man in the video is in fact Simmons, in a cease-and-desist letter they sent to Valleywag.

The short clips we posted are newsworthy and will not be taken down. But the letter itself is informative. In it, Simmons's lawyers say that the video was filmed by Traci Anna Koval, and that a company Allied Industry bought the rights from her in 2003. Is Koval the woman in the video, referred to as "Elsa" by GenesSecret.com? Unclear. Here's the letter:

This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.
This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.