Donald Trump grooved to the dulcet tones of the Village People at his pre-inauguration rally in Washington DC in a moment that has been dubbed “beyond parody” by people on social media.
The president-elect, who will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States this afternoon (20/1), took to the stage at the Capital One Arena where the inaugural parade is due to take place due to the inclement weather.
The disco group’s 1970s anthem, YMCA, has become synonymous with the 78-year-old Republican leader’s events.
Footage of the energized performance was being shared widely on social media, with band members seen shaking hands with the incoming president before he was seen dancing to the song.
YMCA has become central to the Trump campaign as his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
But before it became captured by the MAGA movement, the anthem was considered an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community.
The band was founded by two French music producers who were inspired by a scene at a gay club in New York City’s meatpacking district.
However, Victor Willis, the group’s lead singer and the only original member left in the band, shared a statement last month explaining why it’s a “false assumption” to view the song as a gay anthem and even “defamatory” to label it as such.
“There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that YMCA is somehow a gay anthem,” Willis wrote in a December 2nd statement. “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.”
“However, I don’t mind that gays think of the song as their anthem,” he later added.
Willis also addressed the backlash to his group’s decision to perform at three inaugural events this week, noting in a statement Thursday that Village People will be “the first to speak out” if the president-elect restricts LGBTQ+ rights.
But Trump and many of his incoming cabinet picks and allies have consistently spread anti-trans rhetoric and signalled they’re poised to roll back protections for transgender Americans.
The president-elect’s nominee to oversee the federal government’s enforcement of civil rights even spent the last year leading a legal crusade against transgender Americans.
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