Members of the popular 1970s band Village People are thanking President-elect Donald Trump for making the group's classic song “YMCA” great again.
in a long sentence facebook post Monday, 73 years old Victor Willis The self-proclaimed “singer and lyricist” of “YMCA” claimed that President Trump “benefited tremendously” from using the song at his campaign rallies.
“The YMCA remained at No. 2 on the Billboard charts until the next president took office,” Willis wrote. “But the song finally reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts (and stayed at No. 1 for two weeks) after more than 45 years, thanks to the president-elect's use of it.”
Willis added that the “financial returns” were also good, claiming that the song has brought in “millions of dollars” since President Trump started playing it.
“I am happy to allow the president-elect to continue using the YMCA, and I thank him for choosing to use my song.”
Willis didn't necessarily like Trump's use of the song. Willis asked Trump to stop using the song four years ago, saying complaints he had received about its use at events had become a “nuisance.”
But there were some complications in asking President Trump to stop using the song. First, despite Willis' concerns, Willis acknowledged that the Trump campaign had “every right” to continue playing the song at rallies because it “obtained political use permission from the performing rights organization BMI.” Ta.
Willis also said his views on the issue began to soften after he realized that Trump “really likes the YMCA” and seems to “have a lot of fun with it.” At that point, Willis said he had “no intention” of preventing Trump from continuing to use the song, especially since many other artists had removed their work from Trump's rally playlists. .
Now that Trump's rallies and iconic dance moves have made the YMCA popular again, Willis, who supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, has completely changed his tune. “I'm happy to allow the president-elect's continued use of the YMCA, and I thank him for choosing to use my song,” he wrote.
In his post, Willis also took issue with people calling “YMCA” a “gay anthem,” calling the label “misguided” and even “defamatory.” is. Willis acknowledged that some members of the Village People were gay, and that gay men may have gathered at the local Y to engage in obscene “activities,” but the song was never a song about homosexuals or the gay lifestyle.
“When I said 'let's hang out,' it was just black slang from the 1970s for black men hanging out together doing things like sports and gambling. There's nothing gay about it,” he said. explained.
“Get your thoughts out of the gutter.”
Willis, who has been married to his second wife for 17 years, even threatened to take legal action next month against a news organization that called “YMCA” a “gay anthem.”
He believes the YMCA is popular because, if anything, it “appeals to everyone.” [stripes] Including President-elect Trump. ”
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