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Village People Singer Denies “Y.M.C.A.” Is a “Gay Anthem” As He Defends Trump’s Use of Song (consequence.net)

submitted 4 months ago by MataVatnik@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] minnow@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] EleventhHour@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

“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”

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

There could be some plausible deniability but contextually it doesn't pass the sniff test