Village People founder reiterates his decision to allow Trump to use “YMCA.”

Village People founder Victor Willis revisits two issues surrounding the disco band’s 1970s hit “YMCA”: Donald Trump’s use of the track in his 2024 presidential campaign and the song’s characterization as a “gay anthem.”

In a lengthy Facebook post on Monday (December 2), the 73-year-old singer-songwriter reiterated why he had the president-elect play “YMCA” at rallies and events leading up to his victory in November. Willis said he “didn’t have the heart” to block its use — despite originally asking Trump to stop in 2020 — when he realized the politician seemed to “really like” it and “a lot of it seemed to have”. Fun” with “YMCA” Plus, as Willis noted, the dance song has only “benefited greatly” in terms of chart positions and sales since the twice-impeached former POTUS included it in his campaign.

“That’s why I’m glad I allowed the president-elect to continue using the YMCA,” the musician wrote. “And I thank him for choosing to use my song.”

Willis also pointed out that he believes Trump received the necessary license from the BMI to perform the song. The artist previously noted in an October press release that the billionaire was legally allowed to use “YMCA.” In it, Willis also stated that although he supported Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, he would not use any channels to stop Trump from using the track. It would have been “stupid and just plain hateful.”

The controversy over Trump’s unauthorized use of artists’ music is nothing new, with Village People – before Willis’ change of heart – just one of many acts since the polarizing president-elect’s first request to the White House in 2016 to ask him not to use their songs to play more at campaign events without direct permission. This year alone, Beyoncé, Céline Dion, the Foo Fighters, Jack White and several others have issued statements criticizing Trump, while the estate of Isaac Hayes even filed a lawsuit against the politician in August for using the song late soul singer had used. Wait a minute, I’m coming” at several rallies.

However, as Willis noted in his post, being on Trump’s playlists can be worth it. In November, “YMCA” rose to the top billboardMore than four decades after its release, it landed on the Top Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales charts, staying at No. 1 for two weeks. And according to the Village People star, the song “has grossed an estimated several million dollars since President-Elect.” “continues to use it.” of the song.”

As for another debacle that has “reached a fever pitch” amid Trump’s continued use of “YMCA,” Willis said the singer wrote that any labeling of the track as a “gay anthem” was “completely misguided” and “detrimental to the World” is a song.” He also threatened legal action from January 2025 against “every single news organization that falsely labels the song as such,” although he personally doesn’t mind if “gays use the song as their anthem.”

“This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently used as a kind of gay meeting place, and since one of the authors (Jacques Morali) was gay and some of the villagers are gay, the song must be a message to gay people” , Willis wrote. “To that I say again: get your thoughts out of the gutter. This is not the case… such an assumption is based solely on the fact that the lyrics of the song allude to (illegal) activities for which this is not the case.”

“YMCA” has indeed been widely embraced by the LGBTQ community over the years, with many interpreting the lyrics as a nod to the gym chain’s reputation as a popular cruising site at the time – plus the title comes from an album released in 2015 1978 entitled “YMCA”. cruise‘. Still, Willis’ latest post isn’t the first time he’s tried to distance the title from the gay anthem label, writing in a 2020 Facebook post: “No group can claim that YMCA is somehow part of them or is somehow their anthem. “I will not allow my iconic song to be pigeonholed like that.”

Clearly, Willis hasn’t changed his stance in the four years since. “The true anthem is the YMCA’s appeal to people of all stripes, including President-elect Trump,” he concluded in his Monday post. “But the song isn’t really a gay anthem, unless some people falsely claim it is.”