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Village People hit out at lookalike performance at Donald Trump event

By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 16 May 2023

Donald Trump has annoyed the Village People again, this time by hosting a party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida which featured a group of men dressed up like the legendary disco group and performing their hits.

The former President has regularly made use of Village People songs ‘YMCA’ and ‘Macho Man’ at his political events, of course. The group – and especially founder member and lead singer Victor Willis – have been very clear throughout that they really wish he wouldn’t.

When it comes to copyright matters, political rallies and other events staged by Trump usually rely on blanket licences issued by the music industry’s collecting societies.

And while there is a specific licence for overtly political events that provides some opt-outs for songwriters, it’s difficult for artists to stop the likes of Trump from using their music outright by simply enforcing copyright law.

It’s a little more clear cut if music is used by politicians without permission in campaign videos, and Village People label Scorpio Music did threaten legal action after Trump shared a video made by a third party that featured the group’s music. But with music used at events, things remain tricky.

Artists can still send cease and desist notices – or even just polite letters simply requesting that a politician doesn’t use their music – or they can moan about it on social media, perhaps in the hope that that will cause a backlash which will stop the politicians from playing their songs at their events.

But none of that worked for Willis and the Village People. Back in early 2021 they were hoping that Trump leaving the White House might solve the problem.

They told Billboard at the time: “We have no ill will towards the President, but we asked him to cease and desist [using our music] long ago. However, since he’s a bully, our request was ignored. Thankfully he’s now out of office, so it would seem his abusive use of our music has finally ended”.

However, with Trump still regularly dominating the political conversation in the US – and even more so now he’s back in campaign mode in a bid to win back the presidency – that “abusive use” of the Village People’s music very much continues.

And now Willis – via his wife and manager Karen – has sent another stern letter to Team Trump, this time arguing that the lookalikes performance at Mar-a-Lago potentially violates the Village People’s trademark. That’s on the basis that the performance – and the circulation of footage from the event on social media – has implied that Willis and his group somehow endorse Trump.

“The performance has and continues to cause public confusion as to why Village People would even engage in such a performance”, Willis wrote in her letter, before noting: “We did not. Though my husband has tolerated your client’s use of his Village People music, we cannot allow such use by him to cause public confusion as to endorsement”.

Whether a claim under trademark law is easier to pursue than a claim under copyright law remains to be seen. Though, the Trump camp – keen to demonstrate that their overlord is a true man of the people – has let it be known that they only talk to lawyers not the wives of pop stars. Even if the wife is also the artist’s manager. Oh, and also a lawyer.

“I will only deal with the attorney of the Village People, if they have one, not the wife of one of the members”, Trump legal rep Joe Tacopina said in a statement. “But they should be thankful that President Trump allowed them to get their name back in the press. I haven’t heard their name in decades. Glad to hear they are still around”.