Donald Trump did a lot of things wrong during his presidency, but few were as consistent as his complete lack of respect for copyrights. Over the past four years, dozens of artists demanded Trump stop using their music at his events, including the Village People. But that didn’t stop him from blasting “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man” one last time during his farewell rally today — and the legendary group isn’t having it.
Village People’s longtime leader, Victor Willis, previously spoke out against Trump’s actions this summer when he used hateful rhetoric and dangerous armed forces Black Lives Matter marches across the country. Apparently Trump didn’t get the message that he was supposed to stop using their iconic gay anthems like “Macho Man” and “Y.M.C.A.” because he’s since used them numerous times.
“We asked him to cease and desist long ago. However, since he’s a bully, our request was ignored,” Village People told TMZ. “Thankfully he’s now out of office, so it would seem his abusive use of our music has finally ended. We hope to spearhead a change in copyright law that will give artists and publishers more control over who can and cannot use our music in the public space. Currently there is no limit to blanket licensing.”
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Other artists, like Laura Branigan and Neil Young, have sued Trump for ignoring their legal demands to stop using their songs. Props to the Village People for that statement, though, because that’s a pretty zen way of looking at an otherwise infuriating scenario. After all, they’re right: Trump’s presidential era is officially over, and that means his platform for spouting factually incorrect propaganda — Twitter and Facebook included — just got a whole lot smaller.
That's a wrap, folks: Trump boards Air Force One to depart Washington for his final time as president – to the tune of YMCA. pic.twitter.com/FXyabOqNw3
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) January 20, 2021
