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The iconic disco group Village People is facing significant criticism over their decision to perform at the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Knewz.com has learned that the music group addressed the growing anger against them on social media, saying that they intend to unite the United States through their performance at the occasion.
Ever since the star-studded lineup for the Trump inauguration was announced, the comment section of Village People's Facebook posts has become the place for heated debates regarding the incoming President.
The disco group recent wrote a post on Facebook saying:
"TO VILLAGE PEOPLE FANS AND THE MEDIA. We are announcing today that VILLAGE PEOPLE have accepted an invitation from President Elect Trump's campaign to participate in inaugural activities, including at least one event with President Elect Trump."
"We know this wont make some of you happy to hear however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics."
"Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost," the statement further read.
It is worth noting that Trump has repeatedly used the song Y.M.C.A. in his campaign circuit, seemingly without realizing the widely accepted pro-LGBTQ subtext of the lyrics of the song.
"Therefore, we believe it's now time to bring the country together with music which is why VILLAGE PEOPLE will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump," the statement from the music group added.
It is worth noting that Victor Willis, the frontman of Village People, used to be a vocal critic of President-elect Trump and had voiced his endorsement of Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
However, he has since softened his stance on Trump, which reports mentioned coincided with Y.M.C.A. gaining renewed publicity due to Trump's campaign events.
Following Trump's town hall event where he danced and swayed to a playlist of songs for about 40 minutes, including the iconic Village People chartbuster, Willis issued a formal statement.
The statement mentioned that while the Village People frontman was not too happy about the song being used at a Trump event, "there wasn’t much that could be done to stop it from happening," according to reports.
He further stated that "Trump's use of 'Y.M.C.A.' has greatly benefited the song. For example, when Trump started using 'Y.M.C.A' the song shot back up to #2 on Billboard's digital chart."
Furthermore, Willis had stated that filing a lawsuit to revoke Trump's right to use the song would be "stupid and just plain hateful."
The disco group caught quite the flak for its decision to not only let Trump use the song but perform at the President-elect's inauguration as well, with fans flooding their social media handles with comments like "sellout" and "Riding on the senility of a rapist and felon. Congrats."
One of the comments on their latest Facebook post tried to draw attention to Willis's stance on Trump as it said:
"Victor Willis has never had a consistent stance on Trump for over five years. He was against Trump in summer 2020, for him in fall 2020, and against him again in winter 2020. He has no business talking politics."
"This is also much bigger than politics. It has nothing to do with Democrat vs Republican, it is about good vs evil, and democracy vs oligarchy. And you know this. You had the opportunity to stand up for right thing and you failed. History will not judge you kindly," the comment further read.
Comments from Village People fans on the disco group's Instagram posts are no better, showcasing the apparent disappointment of the public.
One of the users wrote, seemingly about the song Y.M.C.A., "Always loved the Pet Shop Boys Version more, but if it gives you royalties, I won’t stream it anymore. Very disappointed in you!"
Another fan wrote, "Will never sing or dance to this song again!" while a third said, "Shame shame shame on you for disrespecting so much the community that made you famous."
It is worth noting that country music star Carrie Underwood is currently facing similar backlash over her decision to perform at the Trump inauguration.