YMCA Writer Claims Hit Song Is NOT A Gay Anthem And Threatens Legal Action
Image: The Village People. Image: supplied.
The lead singer of the Village People and one of the song writers responsible for the hit song the YMCA has hit out at those calling the song a gay anthem in a lengthy social media post.
Victor Willis, who played the police officer in the hit group, addressed the use of the song in the Trump Presidential campaign and vehemently denied the songs lyrics had anything to do with “illicit activity.”
He even went on to threaten legal action against those referring to it as a gay anthem.
The YMCA: “I knew nothing about the Y being a hang out for gays”
Seemingly out of nowhere this week lead singer of the Village People Victor Willis took to social media to set the record straight, so to speak, on the groups hit song the YMCA.
Whilst much of his post addressed the use of the song in the presidential campaign for Donald Trump, it was his comments about the song not being a gay anthem that got everyone talking.
“There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem” he wrote.
“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.”
Willis went on extensively defend his lack of knowledge of gay culture and alleged illicit gay sexual activities taking place in YMCA venues, which he believes is why many have regarded it as a gay anthem.
“This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout” he said.
“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.”
However a quick google search of the hit song being a gay anthem list countless entries that talk of the song speaking to many aspects of gay life, including cruising culture of gay men in the YMCA venues and their use of the bathrooms and showers as a hook up space.
“There’s nothing gay about that”
The song did have a deep resonance with the gay community at the time and whether it was intentional or not, many felt the lyrics touched on an aspects of their lives that related to their experiences, illicit or otherwise.
“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” he continued.
“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” he clarified.
“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.”
But it seems Willis is now well and truly over people referring to the song as a gay anthem as he went on to explain he would be having his wife pursue legal action on his behalf.
“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.”
But while he doesn’t want anyone reporting on the song being a gay anthem, he reiterated that he doesn’t mind if we think of it as one…
“However, I don’t mind that gays think of the song as their anthem” he concluded before reiterating again his belief that the song holds more resonance in mainstream playlists, stating that he believes the gay community do not use the song for their clubs and events.
“But you’d be hard-pressed to find Y.M.C.A. on the play list at any gay club, parade or other gay activity in a way that would suggest it’s somehow an anthem to the community other than alluding to illicit activity, which is defamatory, and damaging to the song. But it stops in 2025″ he stated.
“However, you know where you-will find Y.M.C.A.? On the play list of almost every wedding, bar mitzvah, sporting organization, and the song is used in commercials and motion pictures and products worldwide.”
“The true anthem is Y.M.C.A.’s appeal to people of all strips including President Elect Trump. But the song is not really a gay anthem other than certain people falsely suggesting that it is. And this must stop because it is damaging to the song.”
This is not the first time Willis has spoken out about the song, in a 2017 interview he explained that it was not a ‘gay song’ and detailed what the lyrics meant to him.
“Y.M.C.A. was not written to be a gay song because of the simple fact I’m not gay. I wrote it about hanging out in urban neighborhoods in my youth. ‘You can hang out with all the boys’ was a term about me and my friends playing basketball at the Y. But I wanted to write a song that could fit anyone’s lifestyle. I’m happy the gay community adopted it as their anthem, I have no qualms with that.”
Despite these comments, Willis toured with the rest of his group members to Australia in 2015 where they participated in celebrations for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Along with the rest of The Village People Willis climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the event, adorning rainbow flags on their wrists, where they then performed the YMCA atop the bridge as a celebration of the event and the queer community.
Check out their performance on the bridge below.
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