‘Bizarre’ Trump event sees him play 70s gay hit YMCA ‘nice and loud’ while dancing with Kristi Noem
‘Bizarre’ Trump event sees him play YMCA ‘nice and loud’ before dancing with Kristi Noem (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
A Donald Trump town hall event in Pennsylvania took a “bizarre” turn as the former President reportedly danced for “40 minutes” to songs including the Village People’s gay anthem “YMCA.”
The town hall event on Monday (14 October) came to a standstill after two members of the audience reportedly fainted due to the heat in the building.
After the event moderator, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, joked that they “couldn’t afford” air conditioning “in this economy”, Trump turned the event into a deeply weird dance party.
“Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music… Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?” Trump said.
According to the Guardian, nine songs were played over 40 minutes, including the Village People’s “YMCA”, “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor, and “Ave Maria” with Trump and Noem seen dancing throughout.
Trump concluded: “Those two people who went down are patriots. We love them. And because of them, we ended up with some great music, right?”
After the event, presidential hopeful Kamala Harris linked to a video of Trump dancing, commenting: “Hope he’s OK.”
Donald Trump’s dancing was quickly mocked by social media users, with one journalist describing the event as “deeply bizarre” and that you “can’t make it up”.
One user claimed the event was “SO awkward”, and “insanely weird even by Trump standards”.
Here's Kristi Noem dancing to YMCA at a Trump rally. Because:
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) October 15, 2024
– Shooting her dog wasn't hateful enough
– She's miming a wind turbine
– She's practicing her hug
– Her arms froze while she was stealing a flatscreen
– She's catching pieces of Trump's skin pic.twitter.com/kQV4g5bdgA
“How long until the homophobes find out that the YMCA is a gay anthem?” Another social media user pointed out.
What have The Village People said about Trump using “YMCA”?
Donald Trump has made “YMCA” into something of a trademark, playing the song frequently at his rallies, and describing it as the “gay national anthem.”
The Village People haven’t been so supportive of Trump’s campaign using the song, however, with the band repeatedly calling for him to stop using their music at rallies, and considering legal action against Trump in 2020 for using the songs “YMCA” and “Macho Man.”
“YMCA” is about the experience of staying at hostels run by the YMCA organisation, which was founded in London on 6 June 1844 as the Young Men’s Christian Association.
After Trump played “YMCA” at the event in Pennsylvania on 14 October, however, Village People frontman Victor Willis claimed he would permit Trump to use the song until the end of the 2024 presidential campaign. Willis claimed Trump’s use of the song had seen it shoot up the charts, and that suing the former president would be “stupid and just plain hateful”.
But is the “YMCA” the “gay national anthem”, as Trump claims? It’s well known that although, at face value, the song is about the virtues of the YMCA as a national organisation, the song was implicitly understood by the Village People’s gay fans as a celebration of YMCA’s reputation as a popular gay cruising and hookup spot.
However, Willis has since claimed that the Village People’s songs are “universal”, and are not about gay sex, adding that he would “sue” anyone who “falsely suggests ‘YMCA’ is somehow about illicit gay sex”.
The band does long have an association with the LGBTQ+ community, however, with two of its original members – Filipe Rose and Randy Jones – and co-creator Jacques Morali out as gay.
The name Village People also refers to Manhattan’s extremely queer-friendly Greenwich Village, while the costumes the band wore were also reportedly a nod to gay subcultures in the 1970s.
David Hodo, one of the band’s members, told Spin in 2008: “Was the song written to celebrate gay men at the YMCA? Yes. Absolutely. And gay people love it.”
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