Village People Lead Singer Promises To Sue Media Outlets That Refers To “YMCA” As A Gay Anthem

Victor Willis, the lead vocalist for the Village People who wrote the lyrics to the band’s hit “Y.M.C.A.,” says the song is totally not a “gay anthem” and adds he will sue any news outlet who refers to it as such. In a lengthy Facebook post, Willis explains why he allowed Donald Trump to use the song at his campaign rallies (short version – money) and then goes on to rant about the totally-straight lyrics of the dance tune. While he says he doesn’t “mind that gays think of the song as their anthem,” Willis claims that calling the tune an LGBTQ+ anthem is “defamatory and damaging to the song.” I’m guessing that means that Willis feels being gay is defamatory or damaging.

Victor Willis said the disco classic “Y.M.C.A.” by The Village People has “benefited greatly” from the president-elect’s use and threatened to sue news outlets that refer to it as a “gay anthem”https://t.co/UEo8Z4efEi

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) December 3, 2024

Excerpt from his Facebook post:

There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem. As I’ve said numerous times in the past, 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.

This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout and since one of the writers was gay and some of the Village People are gay, the song must be a message to gay people. To that I say once again, get your minds out of the gutter. It is not.

Sadly, when the President Elect started using the song, people attempting to brand the song as a gay anthem reached a fever pitch as many used it to say, oh, Trump don’t know the song is a gay anthem? This was done in a manner to attempt to shame the President Elect’s use of the song.

As I stated on numerous occasions, I knew nothing about the Y being a hang out for gays when I wrote the lyrics to Y.M.C.A. and Jacques Morali (who was gay) never once stated such to me. In fact, Jacques never once told me how to write my lyrics otherwise I would have said to him, you don’t need me, why don’t you simply write the lyrics.

I therefore wrote Y.M.C.A. about the things I knew about the Y in the urban areas of San Francisco such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms. And when I say, “hang out with all the boys” that is simply 1970s black slang for black guys hanging-out together for sports, gambling or whatever. There’s nothing gay about that.

So, to the extent that Y.M.C.A. is considered a gay anthem based on the fact that gays once used certain YMCA’s for elicit activity, the assumption that the song alludes to that is completely misguided.

Therefore, since I wrote the lyrics and ought to know what the lyrics I wrote is really about, come January 2025, my wife will start suing each and every news organization that falsely refers to Y.M.C.A., either in their headlines or alluded to in the base of the story, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem because such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to elicit activity for which it does not.

Read the full FB post here. Willis has had an issue with the “gay anthem” label for years. Back in 2020, he threatened to sue media outlets (or “anyone else”) who even hinted that “Y.M.C.A.” was about gay shenanigans, writing on social media: “Get your minds out of the gutter!” (h/t JoeMyGod)