The legend goes that French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, visiting gay clubs in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, wanted to create a group celebrating that audience, inclusive of Blacks and Latinos. The recruitment ad for the campy phenomenon that became Village People read “Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance and Have a Mustache.”
Their success wasn’t just based on their “Tom of Finland meets a vocational guidance counselor’s office” look. The catchy melodies and rump-shaking beats were beloved by all. “In The Navy,” “Can’t Stop The Music,” and, of course, “Y.M.C.A.” are classics for a reason, as is a track that amped up Donald Trump enthusiasts at a rally in Nevada on Saturday, “Macho Man.”
The ironies stemming from the clip are many. The most obvious, of course, is that “Macho Man” is a tongue-in-cheek gay anthem, and the people in this video are racing to get a good spot to watch Donald Trump read from a teleprompter. One need not be a legal scholar to have an awareness of the GOP’s record, which fought, and continues to fight, for negating the civil rights of LGBT Americans.
Then there’s the implied factor that the man they are coming to see, a rich kid who avoided military service due to bone spurs, is, in the spirit of the song, “a macho man.” Sure, we can all describe macho in our own way (and we can also argue if it is a value worth celebrating) but most would agree there’s something off here.
Added to this, of course, is the fact that Victor Willis, the only original member still with the group (the kneeling admiral in the above photo), has asked the Trump campaign to stop using his music.
He did so in early June, after the President’s controversial tweet which used the term THUGS (in all caps) and added “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The tweet was the first that the social media app cited as “violat[ing] the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence,” but which they kept available, with a note, in “public interest.”
“I ask that you no longer use any of my music at your rallies especially ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and ‘Macho Man.’ Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way,” Willis said.
Previously, Willis maintained a more laissez-faire attitude when it was reported that “Macho Man” was used as part of Trump’s entry music during an appearance in India. “Our music is all-inclusive and certainly everyone is entitled to do the YMCA dance, regardless of their political affiliation. Having said that, we certainly don’t endorse his use as we’d prefer our music be kept out of politics,” read a statement on Facebook.