{"id":248,"date":"2026-07-05T10:43:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T10:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2026-07-05T10:43:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T10:43:57","slug":"what-victor-willis-got-wrong-and-right-about-ymca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"What Victor Willis got wrong, and right, about \u2018YMCA\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Victor Willis, a lead singer for the Village People who died Tuesday, insisted that the 1978 hit \u201cYMCA,\u201d the group\u2019s most famous song, was not a gay anthem. Never mind its innuendo \u2014\u00a0its description of the YMCA as a place that has \u201ceverything for young men to enjoy\/You can hang out with all the boys\u201d and \u201cdo whatever you feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Mamdani\u2019s speech for America\u2019s 250th takes direct aim at MAGA bigotry<\/a><\/p>\n

Jacques Morali, the openly gay French music producer who helped create the group, said he did so after thinking to himself that \u201cgay people have no group,\u201d but Willis, who was the straight frontman dressed as a police officer surrounded by gay costumed bandmates, said \u201cYMCA\u201d was merely about young men having a place to clear their minds at the gym in the comfpany of other men. He said the songs \u201cMacho Man\u201d and \u201cIn the Navy\u201d weren\u2019t about gay life, either.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s what Willis needed to tell himself to justify becoming a closing act at MAGA rallies. Willis performed \u201cYMCA\u201d the night before President Donald Trump\u2019s second inauguration alongside a new group of band members, as Trump twisted at the waist and pumped his fists instead of doing the simple hand motions fans created to spell out the letters. To many people, Willis aligning himself with MAGA, including his performance at the inauguration, felt like a betrayal, but Willis maintained the month before that performance that \u201cYMCA\u201d was for everyone and that after he decided to entertain MAGA \u201cthe financial benefits have been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willis was right about one thing. Like the cultural institution that gives the song its title, \u201cYMCA\u201d is for everyone. It\u2019s a fun, upbeat song with a catchy hook and a ridiculous dance that everyone responds to and in which everyone finds their own meanings.\u00a0The song resonates on multiple levels because the YMCA itself does, too.<\/p>\n

Founded in 19th century London to provide a haven and moral guidance to men who had relocated there during the Industrial Revolution, the Young Men\u2019s Christian Association\u2019s religious conversion mission gave way to the need to attract a large clientele, and it became a becoming a pioneer in gym memberships, fitness training and even body-building. The YMCA is now recognized as a messy social experiment that has provided everything from emergency assistance, afterschool programming, summer day camps, transitional housing, the aforementioned gym memberships and swim lessons, a unique community center in the heart of the . There are many things people associate with the YMCA, and cruising remains one of them.<\/p>\n

Read more Intelligence chief Bill Pulte begins firing dozens of intelligence officials<\/a><\/p>\n

For most of us, hearing the catchy tune that is \u201cYMCA\u201d once a year at a New Year\u2019s Eve party is sufficient, but Trump and MAGA can\u2019t seem to get enough of it. MAGA is inherently nostalgic and Trump\u2019s tastes appear to be stuck in the 1980s, the end of the disco era that produced hits like \u201cYMCA.\u201d His dancing to it in public is his attempt to latch on to its popularity, if not its double entendres.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s under his administration that the YMCA is having a hard time. The YMCA is of the nation\u2019s leaders in providing affordable afterschool care and food to young children and teenagers. It\u2019s a private nonprofit organization that receives substantial federal aid to support that programming, but the widespread cuts to public spending that Trump boasted of last year led to reports that some branches may have to close. How ironic it would be if the president who makes a spectacle of dancing to \u201cYMCA\u201d was responsible for its demise.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cYMCA\u201d gets most of us singing and dancing along, if only begrudgingly, because nostalgia appeals to all of us. We remember the swim lessons and summer camps. But we may also be aware of how the YMCA continues to function today as a social anchor for public life \u2014 including for the gay community.<\/p>\n

Willis is a part of the history because of the iconic music he helped create, but once he helped create it, the song belonged to the people, not just him or the Village People, and certainly not just MAGA. \u201cYMCA\u201d is innocent, fun and comedically subversive, depending on who\u2019s listening. It\u2019s a celebration of public life in all its shades. Willis left us that gift even if he later tried to take it back.<\/p>\n

Read more The election that never ends: Inside Trump World\u2019s endless relitigating of 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victor Willis, a lead singer for the Village People, insisted that the most famous song he helped write isn\u2019t what we know it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Victor Willis got wrong, and right, about \u2018YMCA\u2019 - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Victor Willis got wrong, and right, about \u2018YMCA\u2019 - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Victor Willis, a lead singer for the Village People, insisted that the most famous song he helped write isn\u2019t what we know it is.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-05T10:43:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"What Victor Willis got wrong, and right, about \u2018YMCA\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-05T10:43:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248\"},\"wordCount\":773,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/32ebd476c73c5a3bc762447350573c82.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=248\",\"name\":\"What Victor Willis got wrong, and right, about \u2018YMCA\u2019 - 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