{"id":808187,"date":"2020-06-08T12:19:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T18:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=1011613"},"modified":"2020-06-08T12:19:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T18:19:58","slug":"village-people-singer-victor-willis-tells-trump-to-stop-using-their-music-at-rallies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/village-people-singer-victor-willis-tells-trump-to-stop-using-their-music-at-rallies\/","title":{"rendered":"Village People Singer Victor Willis Tells Trump to Stop Using Their Music at Rallies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Victor Willis, vocalist and co-founder of disco greats the Village People<\/a>, told President Donald Trump to stop using two of the group\u2019s most famous songs, \u201cY.M.C.A.\u201d and \u201cMacho Man,\u201d at his rallies.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook<\/a> post last week, Willis said the decision came after Trump had law enforcement officers clear peaceful protesters<\/a> from Lafayette Square with tear gas, batons and explosive devices so he could take a photo in front of St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church. Demonstrators had gathered in Lafayette Square to protest police brutality and the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. (Coincidentally, Willis frequently appeared as a police officer while performing with the Village People.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Trump orders the U.S. military to fire on his own citizens (on U.S. soil), Americans will rise up in such numbers outside of the White House that he might be forced out of office prior to the election,\u201d Willis wrote. \u201cDon\u2019t do it Mr. President! And I ask that you no longer use any of my music at your rallies especially \u2018Y.M.C.A.\u2019 and \u2018Macho Man.\u2019 Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willis\u2019 note actually marked reversal of his stance on Trump\u2019s use of the Village Peoples\u2019 music. Back in February, Willis wrote<\/a> that even though fans had contacted the group to demand they ask Trump to stop using \u201cY.M.C.A.\u201d and \u201cMacho Man,\u201d Willis refrained from doing so because \u201cour music is not being used for a specific endorsement.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201c[Trump] has remained respectful in his use of our songs and has not crossed the line; if he or any other candidate were to use any of our songs in a manner that would suggest our endorsement, or in a promotional advertisement, that would cross the line. Like millions of Village People fans worldwide, the President and his supporters have shown a genuine like for our music. Our music is all-inclusive and certainly everyone is entitled to do the YMCA dance, regardless of their political affiliation. Having said that, we certainly don\u2019t endorse his use as we\u2019d prefer our music be kept out of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Village People now join a large list of artists who have demanded Trump not use their music at campaign rallies, or criticized him for doing so. Others include Queen<\/a>, the Prince estate<\/a>, Neil Young<\/a>, Rihanna<\/a>, R.E.M.<\/a> and Aerosmith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Popular on Rolling Stone<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victor Willis, vocalist and co-founder of disco greats the Village People, told President Donald Trump to stop using two of the group\u2019s most famous songs, \u201cY.M.C.A.\u201d and \u201cMacho Man,\u201d at his rallies. In a Facebook post last week, Willis said the decision came after Trump had law enforcement officers clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-808187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 22:54:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}