Victor Willis, a.k.a. the co-creator and frontman of popular music group the Village People, is speaking out about former President Donald Trump and his use of their famous song “Y.M.C.A.” — but what he said might surprise you.
In a lengthy Facebook post shared on Monday, Willis — who wrote the song — defended Trump’s use of the song at his rallies. The former president has played the song at his events since 2020. Willis explained how he initially took issue due to the amount of complaints he received about it, and actually reached out to Trump’s team to get them to stop playing it.
Willis eventually found out he had no legal recourse, as Trump had obtained a “political use license” from the performance rights organization BMI. There were also a handful of other artists that have withdrawn Trump’s use of their own music. After surmising that Trump must really enjoy his song, Willis explained that he “didn’t have the heart” to fight to get him to stop.
More from Willis per his post:
Y.M.C.A. has benefited greatly from use by the President Elect. For example, Y.M.C.A. was stuck at #2 on the Billboard chart prior to the President Elect’s use. However, the song finally made it to #1 on a Billboard chart after over 45 years (and held on to #1 for two weeks) due to the President Elect’s use. The financial benefits have been great as well as Y.M.C.A. is estimated to gross several million dollars since the President Elect’s continued use of the song. Therefore, I’m glad I allowed the President Elect’s continued use of Y.M.C.A. And I thank him for choosing to use my song.
Things then took a weird turn when Willis pivoted to debunk the longstanding belief that the “Y.M.C.A.” song was a “gay anthem” and told people to “get your mind out the gutter.” Despite his co-writer and other members of the Village People being gay , Willis maintained that the song in no way was written to be about the gay lifestyle or any “elicit activity” that went on at the YMCA centers between gay people. He went on to say that those who categorize the song as much were “misguided” and further threatened legal action.
“Since I wrote the lyrics and ought to know what the lyrics I wrote is really about, come January 2025, my wife will start suing each and every news organization that falsely refers to Y.M.C.A., either in their headlines or alluded to in the base of the story, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem,” he penned. “Because such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to elicit activity for which it does not. However, I don’t mind that gays think of the song as their anthem.”
He concluded: “But you’d be hard-pressed to find Y.M.C.A. on the play list at any gay club, parade or other gay activity in a way that would suggest it’s somehow an anthem to the community other than alluding to illicit activity, which is defamatory, and damaging to the song. But it stops in 2025.”
So it’s fine for Trump to continue to use the song but it’s a problem for people to allude to the song as being somehow representative of gay people? Got it.