The more I read the funnier it gets
As for the idea that “Y.M.C.A. is “somehow a gay anthem,” Willis said that “is a false assumption based on the fact that my writing partner was gay, and some (not all) of Village People were gay, and that the first Village People album was totally about gay
“This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout and since one of the writers was gay and some of the Village People are gay, the song must be a message to gay people. To that I say once again, get your minds out of the gutter. It is not.
…
I therefore wrote ‘Y.M.C.A.’ about the things I knew about the Y in the urban areas of San Francisco such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms. And when I say, “hang out with all the boys” that is simply 1970s black slang for black guys hanging-out together for sports, gambling or whatever. There’s nothing gay about that.
“As a straight member of a gay band, I totally didn’t get the point of the gay song I wrote for my gay band”
I hate him saying “get your mind out of the gutter” as if even thinking about people who are gay is itself a perverted sexual act.
Gay people exist. Acknowledging this and discussing whether a piece of media is directed at them is not “mind in gutter” stuff.
I don’t want to go so far as to say this person is homophobic, but it sure does sound like some internalized homophobia, perhaps.
I can reluctantly believe that is true (despite the laughable first paragraph where he gives example after example about why such “assumptions” are reasonable) - but he’s old enough to know that once an artist puts art out into the world, their interpretation of it is no longer the only one.
The song IS a gay anthem even if it wasn’t written that way.
edit - they the
There could be some plausible deniability but contextually it doesn’t pass the sniff test
My step-son was 11 and constantly singing YMCA.
“Look, I don’t want to freak you out, but in case you get made fun of at school, YMCA is a gay anthem. No problem with that, but you should know.”
He was horrified, so he started singing “I Will Survive” instead. I just didn’t have the heart to tell him.
He just needs to embrace them. I’m a straight dude, I love gay anthems. I made $20 one time by singing I Will Survive for karaoke at a crowded bowling alley, in front of my wife’s entire company. Whatever, can’t embarrass me. I love that song. Didn’t even need the karaoke screen.
Joke’s on them, I would have sang it for free. Any or all that I know. Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper (I just saw her a couple months ago), The Weather Girls (I have an It’s Raining Men 12" single) and I will belt them all out with my own terrible choreography.
Where is he learning his songs from?
The fluoride in the tap water
WOW! Not much in the news has shocked and surprised me as much as this article has.
Victor Willis says he will take legal action against any news organization that suggest “Y.M.C.A.” is a gay anthem beginning in January 2025
I’m really curious to know what legal action he intends to take. Doesn’t he have to show some sort of damages for any hope of not throwing his money away on frivolous lawsuits that will go nowhere?
He does, but it can also be things like reputation damage or “the fascists stopped paying for my song because they thought it was gay”.
Who the hell does he think he was making money from before? If not for the LGBTQ+ community, that song would just be some old 70s song. Welp, pulling it from my playlist.
I mean, Liberace sued for libel and won after a news outlet accused of him of being gay:
Its not “a” gay anthem.
Its the gay anthem. FTFY.
TIL that Victor Willis of The Village People is a fascist.
You’ll come to find many people you would have never suspected are OK with fascism, when it makes them rich.
Yes it’s very mature and reasonable to call everyone a fascist. You’re doing the right thing here.
A man who supported the Nazi party because he just wanted better highways is still considered a fascist
Young Men’s Christian Association?
Yes. If you weren’t aware, the YMCA was a very common meeting/cruising place for gay men back in the day. The YMCA used to be known for providing cheap food and housing, so it attracted a lot of dudes to come stay there and some of them were gay. Gay bars weren’t really a thing for the most part, so other places like the YMCA became the default. It’s even more convenient if you already happen to live there.
As early as 1919, the YMCA was already a common cruising spot for both members of the US military and civilians. Some guy went up to FDR (Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the time) and was like “Want me to catch some of the gay dudes in the Navy?” When FDR approved, the Navy sent undercover twinks to the YMCA in Newport, Rhode Island to fuck a bunch dudes and report back like, “Yep, they were gay. I know because we fucked.” Pretty shitty, since the result was a court-martial and some people ended up getting sent to naval prison or dishonorably discharged (a few were found not guilty). The investigators rarely expressed any objection to the sexual acts in their reports, either, so it’s a little messed up that they’d get dudes in trouble for fucking by fucking them. I can still find an element of humor, though, in the fact that the US Navy was cool with sending specifically young, good-looking dudes to honeypot sailors into boning as a means of investigation all the way back in 1919. It was known as the Newport sex scandal if you want to read more.
Ah, the “good old days” before entrapment was established by case law. I would say our joke of a Supreme Court would like to overturn that too, but it’d apply way too often to their own hypocritical party. Although they would probably just make exceptions for their own party.
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While it’s definitely a fairly gay video, it’s actually less gay than I remembered it being. In any case, it’s too late. Boykissers have long since claimed the song.
The thing is, you’re looking at it from 2024 eyes. 46 years ago, it was very definitely a gay video, especially when you throw in things that have been forgotten like the 1970’s gay mustache. It wasn’t really until Magnum PI that straight men reclaimed the mustache.
I mean, Trump hate aside, I personally never thought of the song as gay. It has certainly such a wide appeal that it can be thought of as just a party song, surpassing whatever context may have provided inspiration for it. But reading the statement, I have to say that was a lot of words just to say it isn’t gay lol. And saying my wife will sue you for claiming something I wrote was gay sounds even sillier and like he’s trying to compensate for something.
Plausible deniability went out the window for me after I learned the album is called Cruisin’
