Victor Willis, the lead singer of the Village People, is explaining why the long-running disco band has decide to take part in Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
Willis shared a statement on Jan. 13 announcing the the band’s members had agreed to join other artists, including Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Billy Ray Cyrus and Kid Rock, to perform at multiple inaugural activities, including at least one event with the president-elect himself.
“We know this wont (sic) make some of you happy to hear however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics,” Willis wrote on Facebook. “Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost.”
Willis added, “Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music which is why VILLAGE PEOPLE will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump.”
Trump has played the band’s 1978 disco anthem “Y.M.C.A.” during campaign rallies, even dancing along with attendees on the ground who spell out the song title’s letters with their arms.
Willis co-wrote “Y.M.C.A.” with late French music producer Jacques Morali, who was instrumental in creating the Village People. Morali, who was gay, died of complications from AIDS in 1991.
“Y.M.C.A.” and other Village People hits, including “Macho Man” and “In The Navy,” were early on embraced as an anthem by the LGTBQ+ community, a point that came up in some of the shocked comments left alongside Willis’ announcement.
“You would think that as a band founded and focused around queer culture, you’d have a little more respect for queer people. Not to mention a backbone, for yourself,” wrote one angry fan.
Meanwhile, other fans applauded the band for agreeing to perform with unity in mind.
“Congratulations! A well deserved honor. The music has been claimed by many. So let’s enjoy it together,” someone wrote.
Last month, Willis defended Trump’s use of “Y.M.C.A.” at campaign rallies, saying in a Dec. 2 Facebook statement that the song was never intended to be a “gay anthem.”
“There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem. As I’ve said numerous times in the past, that 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,” wrote Willis.
Willis explained that the lyrics he contributed to “Y.M.C.A.” were informed by his observations at YMCA branches in “urban areas of San Francisco,” where young men participated in “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,” he wrote, noting that had instructed his wife to “start suing” news organizations who refer to the song as a “gay anthem.”
Willis added that “Y.M.C.A.” had “benefited greatly” from Trump’s use at his rallies, noting that the song finally reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard dance/electronic chart and was now generating “millions” of dollars in sales.