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.
Quite a scene at Mar-a-Lago last night. pic.twitter.com/S1rcNeFajM
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 12, 2023
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)