Victor Willis, the writer of the Village People’s hit song “YMCA,” is clarifying that the song is not gay-themed. In a Facebook post, Willis stated that there is “nothing gay about it” and that his wife will start suing news organizations that refer to the song as a gay anthem starting in 2025.
Willis explained that he wrote the lyrics to the song about the things he knew about the Y in urban areas of San Francisco, such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms. He also clarified that when he says “hang out with all the boys” in the song, it is simply 1970s black slang for black guys hanging out together for sports, gambling, or other activities, and not related to homosexuality.
Willis expressed his gratitude to President-elect Donald Trump for using the song, which he says has resulted in great financial benefits, with the song estimated to gross several million dollars since Trump started using it. He also stated that his wife has been busy informing BMI not to withdraw the Trump campaign’s political use license and contacting their French partners to stay out of the Trump campaign’s use of the song.
Despite the false assumption that “YMCA” is a gay anthem, Willis is happy to have the song associated with the LGBTQ+ community and is not bothered by their use of the song. However, he is upset that the song is not used in its intended way at gay events, but rather is only used to allude to illicit activity, which is damaging to the song.
