Village people not gay

To fans’ surprise and dismay, the iconic and (formerly) very gay band, The Village People, performed their most recognized (not) gay hit, “Y.M.C.A.” at multiple inauguration events. The answer may surprise you, as it was not just one member who was gay, but rather the group was founded and created with the intent to appeal to the gay community.

In this blog post, we will explore who was behind the Village People and why they were such a revolutionary force at the time. Victor Willis, who headed up the s disco band and wrote the song with producer Jacques Morali, has taken to social media to insist that it was not written with the gay community in mind –. The group's name refers to Manhattan 's Greenwich Village, with its reputation as a gayborhood.

[2] The characters were a symbolic group of American masculinity [3] and macho gay-fantasy personas. [4] As of January , Willis is the only original member of the group. [5]. THE Village People’s YMCA was never meant to be a gay anthem — according to the man who wrote it. During the , and US ial election campaigns, the list of musicians who voiced their opposition to their songs being used by was long, ranging from ABBA to the White Stripes , and — at some point — the Village People.

In June , the band's frontman, Victor Willis, publicly objected to the campaign's use of Village People songs at his rallies. Criticizing 's threat to use military force against Black Lives Matter protesters, Willis then wrote on Facebook, "Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way. But Willis later had a change of tune, noticing that "Y. So now, the Village People are ready to look the other way, accepting an invitation from the -elect's team to perform at several inauguration events , including a final victory rally held on Sunday evening before Inauguration Day.

Therefore, we believe it's now time to bring the country together with music. The announcement on Village People's and Willis' official Facebook pages sparked thousands of comments.

You're not singing at a celebration but a funeral of American values," wrote Aundaray Guess, executive director at GRIOT Circle, a New York non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating all forms of oppression against minorities. Though only Morali was openly gay, it was by attending gay disco parties in Greenwich Village that they came up with the concept of putting together a group of singers and dancers who would wear costumes embodying different gay fantasy figures: a cop, a Native American chief, a cowboy, a construction worker, a leather-clad biker and a sailor.

Village People was therefore a manufactured boy band like many others, but it was specifically designed to target the gay community, developed during a decade of crucial queer liberation and political activism that was also closely tied to disco culture. Morali was "committed to ending the cultural invisibility of gay men," writes music historian Alice Echols in her book "Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture" , quoting an interview the French music producer gave to Rolling Stone magazine in "I think to myself that gay people have no group," Morali said after outing himself as gay, "nobody to personalize the gay people, you know?

While the group did play a key role in making gay culture visible, straight people didn't necessarily interpret the performers' style as gay macho drag, as Echols also notes in her book. Indeed, from toddlers to senior citizens, anyone can have wholesome fun spelling out the letters Y M C A using arm movements to the hit song, without thinking about any possible double entendres related to the ways a young man can have fun staying at a YMCA.

The Village People thereby contributed to presenting "urban gay macho identities as banal media products," concludes Echols. Camp "neutralizes moral indignation" through playfulness, Sontag argued. Similarly, plays on camp, with his derisive bluster protecting him from blowback — no one knows exactly when he's joking or not. As Dan Brooks points out in a New York Times Magazine piece, a "miasma of ill-defined but ever-present irony makes virtually impossible to mock.

As the band's lead singer, Willis co-wrote with Morali some of the band's best-known hits, including "Macho Man," "Y. A," "In the Navy," and "Go West. Following the court settlement that found him to be the only surviving owner of the songs' rights Morali died of AIDS-related complications in , Willis rejoined the group and replaced all members.

He now owns the band and is actively working on rebranding his songs. For him, it was never intended as a political or cultural statement: "When I say 'hang out with all the boys,' that was simply s Black slang for Black guys hanging out together for sports, gambling or whatever," Willis wrote on Facebook in December This article was first published on January 16 and updated on January 20 with a new photo of 's final victory rally.

Latest videos Latest audio. In focus. Latest audio Latest videos.

According to Willis, who

has developed his own particular dance style to 'Y. Who's the real 'Macho Man'? Hyperbolic homosexuality or hypermasculinity? Victor Willis center took over the group in and replaced all members of Village People Image: Getty Images for Associated Television International He threatens to sue any media outlet that characterizes "Y. Skip next section Related topics Related topics.