Village People founder weighs performing 'YMCA' at Trump's inauguration
Founding member of Village People Victor Willis joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss why he decided to endorse his iconic song at Trump rallies and whether he will play at the president-elect's inauguration.
Village People founding member Victor Willis has changed his tune on President-elect Donald Trump's use of the band's iconic disco anthem "Y.M.C.A." as the song makes a resurgence on the charts.
"I decided to allow the president-elect's continued use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ because he seems to genuinely, genuinely like the song and so many other artists were stopping him from using their music," Willis told "Fox & Friends First" on Thursday after years of asking Trump to stop using the song.
"So I decided to contact BMI [Broadcast Music, Inc.] and told them not to terminate his political use license because he seemed to be bringing so much joy to the American people with his use of Y.M.C.A."
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Victor Willis of Village People performs during the 2021 BottleRock Napa Valley music festival at Napa Valley Expo on September 05, 2021 in Napa, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage)
Trump dancing to "Y.M.C.A." during the 2024 campaign caught fire on social media and in the sports world. Now Willis, who sang and co-wrote the song, credits the president-elect for the tune topping the Billboard sales charts 46 years later.
The praise is a notable reversal for Willis, who previously condemned Trump's use of "Y.M.C.A." and another popular Village People hit, "Macho Man," without his permission, and requested that he stop using both at his rallies.
At the time, he said the group prefers that their music be "kept out of politics."
But the new resurgence has sparked speculation about whether the band might now perform the song at the president-elect's inauguration next month.
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This graphic of top digital song sales shows ‘Y.M.C.A.’ at the No. 1 spot. (Billboard/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," Willis responded.
"However, because the president-elect has done so much for ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and brought so much joy to so many people, the song has actually gone back to No. 1, and it's still No. 1 today, so if he were to ask the Village People to perform the song live for him, we'd have to seriously consider it."
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