Village People once tried to stop Trump using their music. Now they’re dancing on stage with him
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Donald Trump closed his pre-inauguration victory rally in Washington, D.C. with a live performance of “Y.M.C.A.”
The president-elect hosted the “Make American Great Again Victory Rally” at Washington’s Capital One Arena on Sunday, less than 24 hours before Inauguration Day. As Trump ended his final speech before taking the White House for a second term, the band Village People came on stage to perform their 1978 disco hit “Y.M.C.A.” live.
The 47th President-elect of the United States boogied alongside them, pumping his fists up and swaying side-to-side with a grin on his face.
“Y.M.C.A.” is almost as central to the Trump campaign as his “Make America Great Again” slogan. The song has been played at countless rallies held by the president-elect throughout his political career, often accompanied by his infamous fist-pumping dance.
But before the “Y.M.C.A.” was Trump’s signature tune, it was long considered an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community. The band was founded by two French music producers who were inspired by a scene at a gay club in New York City’s meatpacking district, The Washington Post reports.
However, Victor Willis, the group’s lead singer and the only original member left in the band, shared a statement last month explaining why it’s a “false assumption” to view the song as a gay anthem and even “defamatory” to label it as such.
“There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem,” Willis wrote in a December 2 statement. “As I’ve said numerous times in the past, that is a false assumption based on the fact that my writing partner was gay, and some (not all) of Village People were gay, and that the first Village People album was totally about gay life.”
“However, I don’t mind that gays think of the song as their anthem,” he later added.
Willis also addressed backlash to his group’s decision to perform at three inaugural events this week, noting in a statement Thursday that Village People will be “the first to speak out” if the president-elect restricts LGBTQ+ rights.
But Trump along with many of his incoming cabinet picks and allies, have consistently spread anti-trans rhetoric and signaled they’re poised to roll back protections for transgender Americans. The president-elect’s nominee to oversee the federal government’s enforcement of civil rights even spent the last year leading a legal crusade against transgender Americans, The Independent previously reported.
Trump also already sought to restrict LGBTQ+ rights during his first term, including by banning transgender people from joining the military. President Joe Biden has since reversed this ban, but reports have already emerged indicating Trump could reinstate it soon after taking office.
Willis also claimed that Village People’s agreement to perform for Trump does not constitute an endorsement of his policies — and even called Vice President Kamala Harris the group’s preferred candidate.
“First of all, our performances are not an indorsement of the President Elect’s policies no matter what you say to the contrary,” Willis wrote. “Having said that, we do support that we have a new president now and we should all wish him well until he gives us a reason not to.”
“We believe that music should be shared across political spectrum and not preserved for one political side,” he added. “But here’s the sad truth, if our preferred candidate (Kamala Harris), had won, Village People would never have been invited to perform at her inauguration. She would have chosen the likes of John Legend and Beyonce, etc.”
“But now that President Trump has been elected, Village People are suppose to tow the line and say no to an invitation to perform? How does that benefit Village People? It does not. It’s simply hatred from one political perspective.“
But the group wasn’t always so friendly toward Trump.
Karen Willis, the group’s manager and wife of the lead singer, sent Trump’s legal team a cease-and-desist letter after he was filmed dancing to the band’s hit “Macho Man” at Mar-a-Lago two years ago.
Willis explained his reasoning behind the letter last month: “Since 2020, I’ve received over a thousand complaints about President Elect Trump’s use of Y.M.C.A. With that many complaints, I decided to ask the President Elect to stop using Y.M.C.A. because his use had become a nuisance to me”
He then said that reports of the “numerous artists” telling Trump he can’t use their songs gave him a change of heart.
“As such, I simply didn’t have the heart to prevent his continued use of my song in the face of so many artists withdrawing his use of their material,” Willis said. “So I told my wife…to not withdraw the Trump campaign political use license.”
