Village People defends their participation in Donald Trump’s second inaugural activities

Donald Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025, is set to be graced with the musical band, Village People, renowned for their hits like ‘Y.M.C.A’ and ‘Macho Man’. The band’s songs were regularly performed at Trump’s rallies and campaign events in the year 2020, and 2024.

On Facebook, the band posted an image and declared, or yet ‘defended’ the use of their songs in Trump’s second inauguration. They captioned, “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.” They further added, “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,” expressing the fact that this decision won’t make the fans happy.

The comments under the post have accused the popular band of falling prey to money, accusing them of siding, and being indifferent to consideration of the LGBTQ community. However, Willis expressed his concerns on Facebook in December that ‘Y.M.C.A’ is not a gay song, irrespective of the lyrics.

The post added, “Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign in which our preferred candidate lost.” The band concluded, “Therefore, we believe it's now 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 aforementioned songs of ‘Village People’, such as ‘Y.M.C.A’ and ‘Macho Man’, both were released in 1978 and went viral in 2020 after Trump used them to promote rallies and campaign events.

When Trump used these songs in 2020, Willis was hesitant and requested that they be played for political purposes. Consequently, he requested Trump's' Trump's' application political use license’, which BMI approved. Th. This led to Willis changing his stance on Donald J. Trump, according to NJ.Com.