The Village People burst onto the New York disco scene in 1977, with a distinctive look based on gay stereotypes and a string of hit singles like Macho Man, In the Navy and Go West. In their lyrics these songs, many people suspected they subtly referenced the gay lifestyle.
However, Victor Willis, the founding member who penned the lyrics to their biggest hit, YMCA, insists it’s not a gay anthem. He’s even threatened legal action against anyone who suggests otherwise.
The song has gained renewed attention recently as it was adopted by former US president Donald Trump as his campaign theme tune. Trump often ended his rallies with a peculiar fist-pumping dance to the disco classic.
The line “You can hang out with all the boys” was widely interpreted as a euphemism for gay hookups at the charity’s gyms and swimming pools. But Willis says this interpretation couldn’t be more wrong.
According to him, the line is just “simply 1970s Black slang for Black guys hanging out together for sports, gambling or whatever. There’s nothing gay about that,” reports the Mirror US.
The iconic tune, which has racked up sales of around 12 million copies, gained a fresh wave of admirers after Trump embraced it. Unlike other artists who have barred Trump from using their music, Willis is over the moon about his track becoming the soundtrack to Trump’s rallies.
He expressed his joy on Facebook, saying: “The financial benefits have been great … YMCA is estimated to gross several million dollars since the President Elect’s continued use of the song. Therefore, I’m glad I allowed the President Elect’s continued use of YMCA. And I thank him for choosing to use my song.”
Willis is also passionately defending the song’s legacy, asserting: “Come January 2025, my wife will start suing each and every news organisation that falsely refers to YMCA, either in their headlines or alluded to in the base of the story, that YMCA is somehow a gay anthem because such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to [illicit] activity, for which it does not.”
In a nod to its enduring impact, the Library of Congress in March 2020 hailed the song as “an American phenomenon” and enshrined it in the National Recording Registry, dedicated to preserving audio recordings of significant cultural, historical, or aesthetic value.
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