Former US president Donald Trump has described how people “love it” when he plays “Y.M.C.A.” while DJ’ing at Mar-a-Lago, his home in southern Florida.
He told YouTubers the NELK Boys in a video uploaded on Wednesday that he “loved” controlling the music at Mar-a-Lago parties and would chose “the gay national anthem”, or “Y.M.C.A.”
“Would you believe it, I love great music. I’ve always had a high aptitude for music,” said 75-year-old Mr Trump, who was asked whether or not he “spun discs”, or DJs, as well as his “go-to banger”.
“I don’t spin but I pick, I pick the ones I like,” he added, and told the YouTubers “You know what gets ‘em rocking? ‘Y.M.C.A’., the gay national anthem.”
“Did you ever hear that? They call it the gay national anthem. But ‘Y.M.C.A.’ gets people up, and it gets ‘em moving,” he said about his favourite tracks including tunes from Broadway shows like Les Misérables. “I have a lot of ‘em,” he added.
The admission comes after the former president used The Village People’s 1978 hit “Y.M.C.A.” at his campaign rallies, with the track becoming an almost-anthem for his failed 2020 re-election bid.
The band, as Billboard reported in January 2021, said following 6 January that they had asked for Mr Trump to cease using their hit song but that he had not because he is a “bully”.
LGBTQ+ campaigners meanwhile pointed out that while “Y.M.C.A.” was a so-called “gay anthem”, Mr Trump’s administration refused to formally celebrate Pride Month.
Maggie Haberman of The New York Times revealed last month that Mr Trump had invited guests to his exclusive summer residence for dancing and that “great music will be played during dinner of Friday and Saturday evenings, with president Trump playing the role of disc jockey.”
Mr Trump added in his interview with the NELK Boys that his favourite song to follow “Y.M.C.A.” was “Hold on I’m Coming”, a 1996 hit by Sam & Dave.
“Y.M.C.A.” was admitted to the Library of Congress to sit among songs that were “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” in 2020.
The Independent has approached Mr Trump for further comment.
