RIP Victor Wills of The Village People. Donald Trump is sad.
It’s never a happy day when someone dies, and today, Donald Trump must be in mourning. Victor Wills, the singer of The Village People–the singers of “YMCA,” which provides the soundtrack for Trump’s double jerk-off dance–has died at the age of 75.
If you were around during the 70s disco boom, you’ll remember that Village People songs were everywhere. As someone in my young teens, they were my first exposure to the gay musical community. Today, such music is completely anodyne, but back then, it rippled through popular culture like an asteroid dropping into a lake.
It didn’t matter that only two of the six original members were gay (Randy Jones, the cowboy, and Felipe Rose (the Native American). They were specifically put together for the gay disco market by Jacques Morali, a French producer who was gay. Thanks to a string of hits, The Village People came to symbolize not just gay music but disco in general, something that outlasted the disco crash. Who hasn’t been to a wedding in the last 45 years where “YMCA” hasn’t been played.
Wills was straight. He just played into the macho gay-fantasy cop persona. He was once married to Phylicia Rashad, who played Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show. They divorced in 1982.
Wills died on June 30 after “a short but aggressive illness.” Naturally, though, Trump made his death all about Trump. And yes, he got the dates regarding the chart success of “YMCA” wrong by more than 15 years.
