It was a bizarre sight watching a huge gay 1970s disco hit being performed at Donald Trump’s 2025 pre-inauguration rally. Many prominent artists from Beyoncé to Bruce Springsteen prohibit Trump from using their music. So why do Village People – a band synonymous with the 1970s gay liberation movement – allow their music to be associated with a political movement that has fixed and repressive ideas about sexual identity and morality?
Village People’s recent incarnation has had a complicated relationship with the “make America great again” movement (Maga). In 2020, their song YMCA began featuring at Maga anti-lockdown rallies and soon became a prominent song in Trump’s re-election campaign.
At the time, the band asked Trump not to use its music and later supported Kamala Harris for the presidency in 2024. Since then Village People have dramatically changed tack.
