In October 2020, a freshly COVID-free Donald Trump hoisted his fists into the air, reveling in his recovery onstage at a Florida political rally as t
In October 2020, a freshly COVID-free Donald Trump hoisted his fists into the air, reveling in his recovery onstage at a Florida political rally as the Village People’s 1978 hit “Y.M.C.A.” played to a sea of red hats.
Though it was a celebratory moment for Trump, his mid-pandemic moves were criticized by some—including CNN’s Don Lemon, who said, “No matter how many times he goes to rallies and dances to the Village People…. He is having fun and dancing on the graves of 215,000 Americans. Dancing.”
Trump’s moves were also a middle finger of sorts to the Village People. The group has had varying responses to Trump’s utilize of the song over the years. “Our music is all-inclusive and certainly everyone is entitled to do the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ dance, regardless of their political affiliation,” the band initially wrote on Facebook in February 2020—but also added, “We’d prefer our music be kept out of politics.” By June, Victor Willis, one of the group’s original members, had reversed course, writing that after Trump threatened to utilize military force to stop protests after the police killing of George Floyd, he could “no longer look the other way.”
But like other former Trump detractors, including his own VP, the Village People has since acquiesced to the president-elect’s pull—even Willis. The group announced in a recent Facebook post that it will perform at Trump’s upcoming second inauguration. (Others on the lineup include country star Carrie Underwood and a classical singer you’ve definitely heard of named Christopher Macchio.)
“We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear, however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics,” read the statement. “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. Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music.”
Willis himself soft-launched this pivot this past December, telling Fox News, “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.” But then he added, “However, because the president-elect has done so much for ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and brought so much joy to so many people…if he were to ask the Village People to perform the song live for him, we’d have to seriously consider it.”
Trump, known to have a penchant for dated pop culture references, is a longtime devotee of the Village People. And even before his post-COVID bop to “Y.M.C.A.,” the song had been a staple at Trump’s rallies. He played it during the bizarre 40-minute jam session that ended a town hall in Pennsylvania this past fall; a week earlier, the song even rang out at an event commemorating the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
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