The upcoming performance of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ by the Village People at Donald Trump’s inauguration will be overshadowed by an ongoing feud between the band’s lead singer and its original members, as revealed by DailyMail.com.
Victor Willis, who is famous for his role as the cop in the legendary disco group’s original formation, continues to have disagreements with his fellow founding bandmates due to a conflict that dates back several decades. This dispute ultimately led Willis to acquire ownership and authority over the band’s name and earnings.
At 73 years old, the singer recently informed that the Village People have agreed to perform at the upcoming inauguration festivities organized by the Trump campaign. This decision comes after Willis had previously expressed objections to the use of the band’s music during the president-elect’s campaign events.
However, Willis will be the only founding member to participate as former bandmate Felipe Rose – the ‘Native American’ – revealed there is still bad blood among members of the group’s most popular lineup.
‘What makes you think I’m going to be f**king there? I have nothing to do with the group,’ Rose, 70, told DailyMail.com this week, citing his 2017 departure.
‘I was in the group for 38 years and then Victor Willis came roaring back with his wife and sued the s**t out of everyone,’ he added.
Village People Now: Lead singer Victor Willis (center) on Monday announced the group accepted an invitation to perform at Trump’s inaugural celebrations next week. Pictured above is the current group lineup from left to right: Nicholas Manelic (the cowboy), James Kwong (the construction worker),Javier Perez (the Native American), James J.J. Lippold (the leatherman), and James Lee (G.I.)
Village People Then: Its most famous lineup, Randy Jones, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Victor Willis, Glenn Hughes and Alex Briley
‘The others decided to fight but I told them “you don’t own it”. I got caught up in the middle of the lawsuit.
‘I have no control over what he (Willis) does with the new group,’ Rose said.
The comments offer a glimpse into the long-running beef among other surviving members of the band from its most famous lineup – Rose, Alex Briley (the soldier), David Hodo (the construction worker), Randy Jones (the cowboy), and Ray Simpson, who replaced Willis as the cop in 1979.
The sixth original member, Glenn Hughes, the leatherman, died in 2001.
Willis is the only original member in the current group which now consists of Nicholas Manelic (the cowboy), James Kwong (the construction Worker), Javier Perez (the Native American), James J.J. Lippold (the leatherman), and James Lee (G.I.).
The frontman had famously demanded that the Trump campaign stop using Village People’s songs at political rallies in a cease-and-desist letter in 2023, but has softened his stance in recent months.
Trump has been known to be a huge fan of Village People hit song Y.M.C.A., to which he’s often seen dancing at his political rallies
Announcing the group’s decision to perform at the inauguration in a Facebook post on Monday, Willis said: ‘We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear, however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics
In December Willis admitted he didn’t ‘have the heart’ to continue fighting Trump, noting that the President-elect ‘seems to genuinely like’ the song and is ‘having a lot of fun with it.’
Weeks later, on Monday, he then confirmed that the group will perform at Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, drawing criticism from fans.
Trump has been known to be a huge fan of Village People hit songs including Macho Man and Y.M.C.A., which is played at almost all of his political rallies.
The President-elect’s infamous dance to the song has gone viral on social media and has led to the 1978 hit’s resurgence in recent years.
Announcing the decision in a Facebook post on Monday, Willis said: ‘We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear, however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics.
‘Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost.
Willis is the only founding member in the current Village People lineup. He famously demanded the Trump campaign quit using the group’s music at political events but has since changed his tune
Willis, whose years-long legal battle saw him gain ownership and control of the group’s name, has continued performing with a rotating cast of performers as the Village People over the years
Felipe Rose, now 70, was performing as the Native American as recently as 2016 (left). His more famous look was from 1979 (right). This week Rose revealed there is still bad blood among the original members and confirmed he has ‘nothing to do’ with them
‘Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music which is why Village People will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump’.
The band rose to fame in the 70s with their catchy disco hits and costumes representing masculine stereotypes. It currently consists of six members, with Willis being the only original member of the group.
Village People was started in 1977 by French music producers Henri Belolo and Jacques Morali who recruited the original members from New York’s gay scene.
They hired Willis as a singer, to ‘adapt’ lyrics from French to English and to co-write some songs.
He and the rest of the lineup remained in place until around 1979 when Willis left during the pre-production of the musical film ‘Can’t Stop The Music’, which was a box office failure.
The other five band members formed a company called Sixuvus and agreed to carry on performing for the next three decades in exchange for a five percent royalty payment to Can’t Stop, Belolo, and Morali’s company.
But then Willis returned and took control again.
In the intervening years he had suffered drug problems and went into rehab.
Willis (pictured left in 2008) would leave the group around 1979 during pre-production of the group’s disastrous film Can’t Stop The Music and was replaced by Ray Simpson (right).
Willis has engaged in public spats with former members including David Hodo who downplayed the lead singer’s role in YMCA’s success in a Facebook post last month
Willis then took to Facebook again to criticize Hodo in response
Public records show he had substantial debts and federal tax liens of more than $1million, and in 2006 he was given probation and sent to treatment after pleading no contest to drug possession charges.
The following year he was arrested for allegedly choking his ex-girlfriend and threatening her with a knife but was not charged.
The first step for Willis’s comeback was a landmark court victory in 2013 under which he reclaimed the rights to 33 songs he says he wrote, including Y.M.C.A and In the Navy.
Then in 2017 Willis brokered a deal of his own with Can’t Stop, under which he got exclusive rights to the Village People name.
That meant the other original members could no longer perform as the group, despite having done so for decades.
Since then, with the group divided by strife, Willis has performed with a rotating cast of performers as the Village People.
Willis has admitted that the iconic tune has ‘benefited greatly’ from Trump’s adoption of it as his own personal anthem, shooting to the top of the Billboard charts after Trump’s use
He has also softened his stance towards Trump, saying in a Facebook post that he allowed the President-elect to use the song as he was ‘having a lot of fun with it’.
‘I simply didn’t have the heart to prevent his continued use of my song in the face of so many artists withdrawing his use of their material,’ Willis said.
Willis also admitted that his decision was in part a business one, writing that the ‘financial benefits have been great’ and that it had made several million dollars since Trump began using it.
In December last year, Willis took to Facebook again to criticize Hodo, who had gone public with his own complaints.
Hodo wrote: ‘Just to be clear, there would be no Y.M.C.A. song without Jacques Morali.
‘He came up with the hook, as he did with all the VP music, after Randy Jones took him to a Y.M.C.A. and introduced him to several gay porn stars who worked out there.
The original Village People are at war after Victor Willis brokered a deal to get exclusive rights to the Village People name
‘It’s only slightly nauseating to hear Willis speak as though he were a Stephen Sondheim,’ added Hodo.
‘Y.M.C.A. would have disappeared from the charts for good had it not been for the fact that the kids from American Bandstand came up with the arm movements. That silly little dance is why this song has endured, not the “brilliant” song writing’.
Willis fired back. writing: ‘I wouldn’t put much stock in whatever you have to say about me… therefore, back in your hole before I crush you again.’
Willis also earned the ire of Village People fans in December after stating that ‘Y.M.C.A. is not a gay anthem’ and vowed to sue anyone who said it was.
Willis even claimed he ‘knew nothing’ about the Y being a ‘hang out for gays’ when he wrote the lyrics back in the 1970s.
The line in the song that you can ‘hang out with all the boys’ was ‘simply 1970s black slang for black guys hanging out’, Willis has said.
Briley, Hodo, Jones, and Simpson did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Willis said that he ‘offered each and every one of the former members an opportunity to remain in Village People’ during the legal cases several years ago.
The spokesperson said: ‘Instead, they chose to do their own thing. And there were only two originals left in the group when Victor returned in 2017 (Alex and Felipe)’.
The statement said that Willis’s federal tax liens were ‘resolved long ago’.
The spokesperson said: ‘As for the so-called backlash. It is the same response to the inauguration as he received once he told the public why he allowed Trump to use Y.M.C.A.’
