village people

Trump Is Feuding With The Village People Over A Tribute Band, As If He Doesn’t Have Enough Going On

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Donald Trump
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As far as anyone can tell, Donald Trump listens to the same 20 songs over and over again, 10 of which are Broadway standards. Two of his favorite non-showtunes are “YMCA” and “Macho Man” by the Village People. It’s a one-sided relationship, as the kitschy group celebrated when he lost the 2020 election (“Thankfully he’s now out of office, so it would seem his abusive use of our music has finally ended”). But that didn’t stop Trump from hiring a Village Record tribute band to perform at Mar-a-Lago.

The best thing Trump ever did was make other tall gargoyles (like myself) look like smooth dancers by comparison. Anyway, the video went viral and caught the attention of the actual Village People, not the Florida imposters.

And according to TMZ, they’re not happy.

The wife of Victor Willis — lead singer of the Village People — fired off a legal warning to Trump, telling him to stop confusing people into believing they endorse him for president, which they claim Trump’s doing with his entertainment choices… The band says it’s not them in the video, but rather a bunch of impersonators dressed like them and they say they never gave Trump permission to use the group’s image and likeness at Mar-a-Lago.

In response, Trump’s more-like-macho-bland attorney, Joe Tacopina, told TMZ, “I will only deal with the attorney of the Village People, if they have one, not the wife of one of the members. But they should be thankful that President Trump allowed them to get their name back in the press. I haven’t heard their name in decades. Glad to hear they are still around.”

I, for one, would not enjoy if one of my favorite bands threatened legal action to prevent me from playing their music, but Trump’s different, I guess.

(Via TMZ)

Village People’s Victor Willis Tells The Weeknd To ‘Lighten Up’ With His Grammys Criticism

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Ever since his No. 1 album After Hours was snubbed of a 2020 Grammy Award, The Weeknd has not been shy about his criticism of The Recording Academy, even promising to boycott the organization going forward. But The Weeknd isn’t the first singer to publicly call out The Recording Academy for their problematic practices. Village People’s Victor Willis (aka the cop) has a long history of outing the Grammys’ discriminatory practices — and he’s now telling The Weeknd to “lighten up.”

Back in 2017, Willis was outspoken about his disdain for the Grammys. He even reportedly send a letter to The Recording Academy’s president claiming there were “secret committees” that existed to “override the decision of Grammy voters in the event the select committee does not like who the Grammy voter has chosen” for the biggest awards. Willis also cited the controversy around Adele beating out Beyonce in every major category that year. “If certain people at the Grammys don’t like who the voters have chosen,” he wrote, “a Grammy committee will simply override the voters and subsequently select who they think should win. Like Adele, maybe?”

But now, Willis has turned his attention to The Weeknd’s recent comments about the Recording Academy. Penning an open letter to The Weeknd on Facebook, Willis claimed The Weeknd stayed silent when he was “benefiting from those secret committees” in the past. The Village People singer also applauded the work of The Recording Academy’s interm CEO Harvey Mason Jr.:

“Pssst, ‘The Weeknd,’ lighten up on the Grammys already why don’t cha!? I know a thing or two about attacking the Grammys, and their once secret committees. I must say you’re not handling this in the spirit of Black protest of this important issue. You see, while Black artists like me were making honest complaints about the secret committees, you were busy racking up one Grammy after another under those secret committees.

I don’t recall you complaining about the secret committees when you were benefiting from those secret committees. But on the one occasion the secret committees didn’t benefit you, the Grammys are suddenly corrupt, and it’s off with their heads? Under the circumstances, you’re much too talented to be pouting about the Grammys. And it seems you’re out for blood despite the secret committees being eliminated. Negative.

This important American institution known as the Grammys has an African American in there (Harvey Mason) that’s making real, meaningful and historic changes that will likely benefit the music business for decades to come. Cut the brotha some slack!”