Village People Defend Their Decision To Perform Gay Anthem “Y.M.C.A.” At Trump’s Inauguration

The disco group Village People, performers of Donald Trump’s self-designated anthem “Y.M.C.A.,” have announced that they will be performing at Trump’s impending inauguration on January 20.

“Y.M.C.A.” has been used at MAGA rallies for years, with one clip of Trump dancing to the song going viral in 2020.

Village People announced via Facebook on Monday, and acknowledged, “We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear but we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics.”

They continued, “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 time to bring the country together with music which is why Village People will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 inauguration of Donald J. Trump,” the announcement declared.

This lack of rigidity regarding the political divide is curious, given Village People’s previous point to distance themselves from Trump. Following the use of the band’s song “Macho Man” at an event in 2023, Village People’s manager sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump’s campaign demanding they stop using the band’s songs at rallies.

However, Victor Willis, the only original member of the band, seemingly had his change of heart on Dec. 2, when he shared a post to Facebook in which he mused that Trump “seems to genuinely like the song,” and shooting down the liberal notion that his songs have progressive undertones.

Over the years, “Y.M.C.A.,” which came out in 1978, became an unofficial anthem among the LGBTQ community but Willis denounced this belief in his Dec. 2 post.

“There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that ‘Y.M.C.A.’ is somehow 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,” he said.

Willis proclaimed, “The true anthem is Y.M.C.A.’s appeal to people of all stripes including President-Elect Trump.”

Also performing on Jan. 20 is country singer Carrie Underwood, who will sing “America the Beautiful.”