Village People singer Victor Willis has released a lengthy statement on Facebook to address Trump's usage of the band's classic hit "Y.M.C.A," as well as the song being labeled as a gay anthem.
On December 3, Willis first confirmed that he was one of the song's writers, alongside Jacques Morali. The singer shared that he has received thousands of complaints about the song being used in Trump campaigns, leading him to request its stoppage due to it being "a nuisance."
However, Willis disclosed that the Trump campaign had secured a political use license from Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), a performance rights organization in the U.S. Thus, enabling the administration to use "Y.M.C.A." however it wanted.
Willis shared, "In fact, I started noticing numerous artists withdrawing the President Elect's use of their material. But by the time I said to my wife one day, "Hey, "Trump" seems to genuinely like Y.M.C.A. and he's having a lot of fun with it."
The singer continued that he didn't "have the heart" to prevent Trump's continued use of the song, and told his wife to inform BMI not to withdraw the campaign's political use license. Legal action was also considered by Willis' connections from France, but asked them to "stay out" of the Trump campaign due to it being a U.S. matter.
Willis also dismissed the claims of "Y.M.C.A." being labeled as 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."
"This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout and since one of the writers was gay and some of the Village People are gay, the song must be a message to gay people. To that I say once again, get your minds out of the gutter. It is not."
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