‘YMCA’ co-writer changes his mind about Trump’s use of the song

Victor Willis, member of the disco-era group Village People and co-writer of “YMCA”. modified his mind about allowing President-elect Donald Trump to use the group’s 1978 hit.

According to MSNBC, in a December 2 Facebook post, Willis claimed that Trump “seems to really like the YMCA and is having a great time doing it,” and in addition threatened to sue news outlets that decision the song a “gay anthem.” “

Willis also admitted that his newfound acceptance of Trump’s use of the song involves an estimated “several million dollars” since Trump has been playing the long-ago hit at his rallies and events.

“Therefore, I simply didn’t have the heart to prevent him from continuing to use my song in the face of so many artists withdrawing from using their material,” Willis wrote. In 2023, Village People’s manager ordered Trump’s campaign to stop.

Despite Willis’s protest that YMCA just isn’t a gay anthem, based on an essay commemorating Pride Month for the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congresswritten by Josiah Howard in 2021, gay communities have adopted this song as their unofficial anthem for many years.

According to Howard, the song’s message and the group’s presentation of themselves contributed to the acceptance of the group and its songs by gay Americans.

Although Howard notes that Willis, a heterosexual man, consistently rejected the concept of the song as a gay anthem, it was largely ignored because gay men decided it was a song that represented them.

“Still, they were a success. The gay messages of their songs, gay fantasy stripper costumes, gay dancing and macho posturing appeared to go over the audience’s heads – or they simply didn’t care,” Howard wrote.

While Willis did threaten to sue “any news organization that falsely refers to the YMCA in a headline or in the base of an article that the YMCA is somehow a gay anthem” starting in January 2025, he also indicated that he was high-quality with it that gays adopted his group’s biggest hit as their anthem. Of course, Willis’ sentiments haven’t escaped criticism on social media.

Trump’s awkward dance to “YMCA” has spawned imitators, especially skilled athletes like Las Vegas Raiders newcomer Brock Bowers and UFC star Jon Jones.

In an appearance discussing the apparent acceptance of the Trump dance by skilled athletes on CNN, former NFL player Donte Stallworth identified the hypocrisy of players like Bowers not being subjected to the same scrutiny and accountability as former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin. Kaepernicka.

Former United States Men’s National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard he firmly raised the hypocritical nature of the celebrations in an article for .

“If someone has a strongly opposing opinion, there is no problem. But if you’re going to make a political statement, be bold and bold enough to stand behind it,” Howard wrote. “Doing the Trump dance is stupid. Whether it’s the president of the United States or my neighbor, I cannot support someone I consider a racist. I won’t glorify it, for good reason. You can’t have it both ways. You are either on one side or the other. If you’re brave enough to make a public statement, I have no problem with that. But own it.”