Get in line, Village People! You’re in some good company with the Rolling Stones, Elton John, others we could name. Mediaite reports that the group is tired of Trump using their music and so now he can’t do it anymore. At least not unless he wants even more legal headaches than he’s already got.
On Monday, the group’s manager, Karen Willis, filed a formal cease and desist notice to the 45th president to stop further unauthorized performances or use of the music.
Willis, who happens to be the wife of the Village People’s lead singer Victor Willis, says the clip of the event — which has been circulating Twitter via @MJisMAGA — has caused a great deal of confusion for fans who mistakenly believed this was the real Village People.
“Though my husband has tolerated your client’s use of his Village People music, we cannot allow such use by him to cause public confusion as to endorsement,” Willis wrote to Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina.
This is not the first time the Village People and Trump have gone head-to-head. Back in 2021, the group issued a similar cease and desist notice for their popular song Y.M.C.A. which Trump used at various rallies including his farewell event at Joint Base Andrews on Inauguration Day.
In a 2021 statement to Billboard magazine, the group said, “We have no ill will towards the president, but we asked him to cease and desist long ago. However, since he’s a bully, our request was ignored. Thankfully he’s now out of office, so it would seem his abusive use of our music has finally ended.”
Quite a scene at Mar-a-Lago last night. pic.twitter.com/S1rcNeFajM
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 12, 2023
Without Macho Man and YMCA, Trump’s going to be hurting. There’s always the Theme From Titanic. Catchy little tune and the owner of the copyright may appreciate the irony.
I can see why diapers would want Macho Man playing at his events-it allows him to think he actually IS a man. Why YMCA tho’?
Considering all the Village People’s classic hits were written as subtle–and not-so-subtle–winks at late 70s gay culture, I cannot see why Trump would want to use any of their material.
Trump’s glory days were the era of Club54 VIP-room style debauchery, where he witnessed and possibly even took part in group sex parties with VP music filling the room (A New York Magazine article I read some years ago quoted his description of the goings-on he witnessed at one such session). It’s likely the nostalgia for those experiences far outweighs whatever revulsion he has for the LGBTQ+ undercurrent in VP song lyrics.
More likely he has never listened to, or is too dense to understand, the lyrics.