Watch Village People perform ‘Y.M.C.A.’ with Donald Trump on stage at inauguration rally 

Village People have taken to the stage with Donald Trump at the latter’s inauguration rally to perform ‘Y.M.C.A.’. Check out footage of the moment below.

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The band made their appearance as part of the line-up for the Republican party leader’s second inauguration at the US Capitol today (January 20).

At the event, which also has Carrie Underwood, Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus and Nelly on the bill, the American disco group took to the stage in the signature attire to perform a live rendition of ‘Y.M.C.A’.

As they took to the stage, they shook the President-elect’s hand before heading over to their microphones and breaking out the famous choreography. During the performance, Trump was seen dancing along and singing along to some of the lyrics.

Check it out below.

The performance from the group comes after a tumultuous relationship with the politician, particularly over the use of the 1978 song in his rallies over the years.

Leading up to his inauguration, Trump continually used two Village People songs during his election campaigns – both in 2020 and again last year – ‘Macho Man’ and ‘Y.M.C.A.’.

Despite initially asking him not to use ‘Y.M.C.A.’ in 2020 after the President seemingly threatened to shoot Black Lives Matter protestors in Minneapolis, Village People frontman Victor Willis retracted his disapproval in 2021.

Explaining his change of heart at the time, Willis wrote: “I said to my wife one day, ‘Hey, Trump seems to genuinely like ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and he’s having a lot of fun with it’. As such, I simply didn’t have the heart to prevent his continued use of my song in the face of so many artists withdrawing his use of their material. So I told my wife to inform BMI to not withdraw the Trump campaign political use license.”

He continued: “The financial benefits have been great as well as ‘Y.M.C.A.’ is estimated to gross several million dollars since the President Elect’s continued use of the song. Therefore, I’m glad I allowed the President Elect’s continued use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ And I thank him for choosing to use my song.”

More recently, he addressed his band’s upcoming performance at the inauguration, acknowledging that although “this won’t make some of you happy to hear”, they are doing so out of the belief that “music is to be performed without regard to politics.”

Around that same time, Willis – who has continually denied that ‘Y.M.C.A.’ is a gay anthem – reiterated the same statement last month. “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,” he said.

The use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ in US politics stems back to 2020 too, when crowds outside the White House played the song to troll Trump after his loss to Joe Biden.

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