One of the founding members of the Village People thanked President-elect Donald Trump this week for his continued use of the band’s 1978 disco classic “YMCA” at rallies and other events, while dismissing the long-held belief that the song is intended as an ode to LGBTQ+ empowerment.
On Monday, singer-songwriter Victor Willis shared a lengthy note on his official Facebook page in which he recalled how he’d initially asked Trump to stop playing “YMCA” after receiving more than 1,000 complaints from fans.
The president-elect’s team purportedly obtained a license to use “Y.M.C.A.” on the campaign trail, however, so Trump continued to play it. (In a statement to Billboard, RNC spokesperson Taylor Rogers noted that the campaign has the appropriate licenses from performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP to play the music heard at the town hall in Oaks, Pa.)
After observing how much the president-elect “seems to genuinely like” the song and has been “having a lot of fun with it,” Willis said he “simply didn’t have the heart” to legally intervene.
That change of heart also came, he noted, after witnessing the “benefits” of the president-elect’s embrace of “YMCA” firsthand.
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“Y.M.C.A. has benefited greatly from use by the President Elect,” Willis wrote. “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,” he continued. “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.”
Willis’ conciliatory remarks come in stark contrast to dozens of other artists ― including Beyoncé, Céline Dion and Jack White ― who have pushed back against Trump’s use of their music.
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In June 2020, Willis himself issued a statement asking Trump to stop playing “YMCA” and a second Village People song, “Macho Man,” following the administration’s response to the then-ongoing Black Lives Matter protests.
Elsewhere in his Monday note, Willis also rejected the “completely misguided” view of “YMCA” as a “gay anthem,” attributing it to the fact that several Village People members ― as well as the song’s co-writer and producer, Jacques Morali ― were gay. (LGBTQ+ listeners have long speculated the song’s lyrics describe ’70s gay hookup culture.)
The lyrics of “YMCA” allude to “the things I knew about the Y in the urban areas of San Francisco such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms,” Willis wrote. In spite of the song’s cross-generational appeal, “you’d be hard-pressed to find Y.M.C.A. on the play list at any gay club, parade or other gay activity,” he added.
“The true anthem is Y.M.C.A.’s appeal to people of all strips including President Elect Trump,” he said. “But the song is not really a gay anthem other than certain people falsely suggesting that it is. And this must stop because it is damaging to the song.”
