Village People were thankful that Donald Trump's "abusive use" of their music ended upon being voted out of office in 2021, but now that he's back, "Y.M.C.A" has returned to regular rotation — and vocalist Victor Willis is singing a different tune.
In a new Facebook post, the disco group's co-founder defended the president-elect's continued use of "Y.M.C.A," while also denying the song was written as a gay anthem.
Willis — who wrote "Y.M.C.A" and is Village People's last original member — writes that he's received "over a thousand" complaints about Trump's use of the song since 2020, though the campaign "had every right to continue" using the song given they held a political use license to do so.
"I started noticing numerous artists withdrawing the President Elect's use of their material," Willis recalls. "But by the time I said to my wife one day, hey, 'Trump' seems to genuinely like 'Y.M.C.A.' and he's having a lot of fun with it.
"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. So I told my wife to inform BMI to not withdraw the Trump campaign political use license."
Willis cites the "financial benefits" and chart success of "Y.M.C.A." that have come as a result, and writes, "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."
The vocalist goes on to write that the idea of "Y.M.C.A." as a gay anthem "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."
He continues:
This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout and since one of the writers was gay and some of the Village People are gay, the song must be a message to gay people. To that I say once again, get your minds out of the gutter. It is not.
Sadly, when the President Elect started using the song, people attempting to brand the song as a gay anthem reached a fever pitch as many used it to say, oh, Trump don't know the song is a gay anthem? This was done in a manner to attempt to shame the President Elect's use of the song.
As I stated on numerous occasions, I knew nothing about the Y being a hang out for gays when I wrote the lyrics to 'Y.M.C.A.' and Jacques Morali (who was gay) never once stated such to me. In fact, Jacques never once told me how to write my lyrics otherwise I would have said to him, you don't need me, why don't you simply write the lyrics.
I therefore wrote 'Y.M.C.A.' about 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. And when I say, "hang out with all the boys" that is simply 1970s black slang for black guys hanging-out together for sports, gambling or whatever. There's nothing gay about that.
So, to the extent that 'Y.M.C.A.' is considered a gay anthem based on the fact that gays once used certain YMCA's for elicit activity, the assumption that the song alludes to that is completely misguided.
Willis also notes that "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 because such notion is based solely on the song's lyrics alluding to elicit activity for which it does not."
He adds, "I don't mind that gays think of the song as their anthem."
Willis concludes that "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." It certainly won't compare to the damage Trump is expected to do during his second term.