Donald Trump‘s love of the Village People is well-documented, as is the group’s pushback against tracks like “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man” being played at Trump rallies. The disco group’s co-founder Victor Willis walked back that opposition on Thursday during a visit to Fox News.
Willis told the hosts of “Fox & Friends First” that he relented on his years-long opposition to Trump’s use of their hits after seeing how much “joy to the American people” the song brought during events.
“I decided to allow the president-elect’s continued use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ because he seems to genuinely, genuinely like the song,” he said. “So I decided to contact BMI 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.'”
Trump’s usage of the track and jerky, two-fisted dance became a trend among Republican TikTok users celebrating his Election Day victory. While speaking to Fox, Willis noted that the track had seen a significant spike in airplay in recent weeks. The song topped Billboard’s Dance/Electronic chart for the week of November 17.
The grateful singer initially balked at the idea of playing Trump’s inauguration for fear of an implied endorsement on Thursday, but he refused to rule out the move entirely.
“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 number one,” Willis said. “So, if he were to ask the Village People to perform the song live for him, we’d have to seriously consider it.”
Watch Willis’ comments below via Fox News:
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