Over the last few years, Donald Trump has infamously made the Village People’s 1978 hit “Y.M.C.A” his theme song. The group even recently performed the track at several inauguration events. Now, Village People lead singer Victor Willis has explained the real meaning of “Y.M.C.A.”
Willis appeared on TMZ’s “2 Angry Men” podcast with Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos to clear the air. Even though the song has been widely viewed as a “gay anthem,” Willis said that the lyrics are more ambiguous than that.
Earlier this month, Willis sent a cease and desist to Jim Jeffries after the comedian said on his “At This Moment” podcast that “‘Y.M.C.A.’ is about men “f***ing in showers in a hostel.”
“[Jeffries] went over the line when he got into saying it had to do with men having sex in the bathroom,” Willis said on the TMZ show.
He also claimed the lyrics do not imply anything remotely related to that.
“We approached [Jeffries] and he apologized and said he was going to rephrase what it was he said and say it differently, because the way he said it as worded was defamatory.”
During the interview, Levin insisted lyrics like “It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A./ They have everything for young men to enjoy/ You can hang out with all the boys” could be interpreted in a myriad of ways.
Willis replied that was actually his goal.
“That was something that I credited myself on is writing my songs with what is called a double entendre,” he stated. “I would write a song to where you can take it any kind of way you wanted it. If you’re straight, you can take the lyrics for somebody straight or if you were gay, you could take it for somebody gay.”
In January, the Village People performed at the Liberty Ball. “Macho Man” and “Y.M.C.A.” were routinely played at Trump rallies during his 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns.
In December, Willis said he “didn’t have the heart” to stop Trump from playing “Y.M.C.A.”