Village People Founder Talks Possibility Of Performing ‘Y.M.C.A.’ At Inauguration

A founder of the music group the Village People, Victor Willis, talked about the possibility of performing the “Y.M.C.A.” at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

During his appearance on “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday, Willis reflected on how Trump danced to the 1978 hit at his campaign rallies, which led supporters to make videos of themselves doing the dance, making it become a viral sensation that others, including famous athletes, have joined in doing at sporting events.

Willis, who co-wrote the disco song, admitted that after Trump made the 70s song shoot to the top of the Billboard charts, 46 years later, band members would have to consider performing it live for him, after recognizing that “the financial benefits have been great.”

“If you were to ask me today if the Village People would perform at the inauguration, I would probably say not, because we’d be concerned about endorsement,” Willis said.

THE RIGHT RHYTHM: Village People founding member Victor Willis reflects on President-elect Trump “bringing so much joy to the American people” by using the band’s classic hit “Y.M.C.A.” at his rallies, granting him permission to continue using the song at his future events. pic.twitter.com/t2aki7Og9Q

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“But however … because the president-elect has done so much for ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and brought so much joy to so many people, the song has actually gone back to No. 1, and it’s still No. 1 today, so if he were to ask the Village People to perform the song live for him, we’d have to seriously consider it,” he added.

The founding member also reflected on how he ended up having a change of heart about Trump using the song, after initially condemning the use at past rallies starting in 2020.

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“I decided to allow the president-elect’s continued use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ because he seems to genuinely, genuinely like the song and so many other artists were stopping him from using their music,” Willis said.

“So I decided to contact BMI [Broadcast Music, Inc.] and told them not to terminate his political use license because he seemed to be bringing so much joy to the American people with his use of Y.M.C.A.,” he added.

Willis recently hit back at the claim that the tune was some kind of “gay anthem,” as The Daily Wire previously reported. In a lengthy Facebook post, the founder of the group explained that the popular song was based on his perception of the organization, saying he “knew nothing about the Y being a hang out for gays.” Y.M.C.A. is an acronym for the Young Men’s Christian Association nonprofit.

“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,” the singer said of the lyrics.

Amanda Harding contributed to this piece.

Related: Village People Founding Member Defends Trump Using ‘Y.M.C.A.’, Says It’s ‘Not Really A Gay Anthem’