Village People Make Major Trump-Related Announcement, Claim It’s "Without Regard to Politics"

The band that gave us “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man” is about to have a surprise concert. Iconic disco band Village People will perform before the entire nation at the inauguration of Donald Trump, set to take place on January 20, 2025. 

Village People singer Victor Willis made this announcement via Facebook, writing: “We are announcing today that VILLAGE PEOPLE have accepted an invitation from President-Elect Trump’s campaign to participate in inaugural activities, including at least one event with President-Elect Trump. 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.”

The era-spanning disco band, Village People, are one of those groups you just know about even without trying. Anyone who has danced in a public place between now and 1978 knows the anthem “Y.M.C.A.” And, if you’re somehow not aware of that song, you’ve certainly heard “In the Navy,” or “Macho Man.” And while the songs of Village People mean a lot of things to a lot of people, the origins of the band are 100 percent connected to the gay communities of Greenwich Village of New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

That said, Willis has recently, and surprisingly, attempted to distance the band from their origins. Last December, also in a Facebook post, he claimed that the song “Y.M.C.A” is not, in his opinion a “gay anthem.” Willis also suggested that not everything about the early Village People records was connected to the gay community, writing: “…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.”

That said, the album that “Y.M.C.A.” leads is the 1978 record Cruisin’. Because that term was very much a part of the gay vernacular in both the 1970s and now, surely Willis can see why people would get that impression. President-elect Trump has been using both “Y.M.C.A” and “Macho Man” extensively at his campaign events. Which, on some level, makes sense. 1978 was the year that Trump launched his first hotel renovation in New York City. Surely, Trump made it down to the West Village back then, right? 

Willis also noted that the aim of the band performing at the upcoming inauguration was because: “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.” This implies that he, and other members of Village People, voted for Kamala Harris.

You can stream Trump’s inauguration on January 20, on YouTube and other networks. 

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