Donald Trump Admits Melania Dislikes His 'YMCA' Dances, Calls It 'Not Presidential'

Former U.S. President Donald Trump recently shared an anecdote about his wife Melania Trump’s disapproval of his dancing to the Village People’s 1978 hit ‘YMCA’ during campaign events.

Speaking to an audience in Sumterville, Florida, Trump said,

"She hates when I danced to what sometimes [is] referred to as the gay national anthem, you know? She hates it."

Trump also commented on the song’s chart performance, stating,

"You know, that song was number five 32 years ago, and it went to number one 32 years later."

The song originally peaked at #2 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart in 1979 and reached #1 in multiple countries. It later topped the Billboard charts after Trump used it during his campaign events.

Trump added,

"There’s never been anything like … it never hit number one. It was number five 32 years ago, and it went to number one for months during the last months that they gave. They loved that song."

He continued, describing Melania’s reaction:

"But she goes, ‘Darling, please.’ You know, she’s a very elegant woman. She goes, ‘Darling, please, don’t dance. It’s not presidential.’ I said, ‘It may not be presidential, but I’m leading by 20 points in the polls or something.’"

In December 2024, Victor Willis, a founding member of the Village People, explained his decision to allow Trump’s continued use of the song despite receiving over 1,000 complaints since 2020.

Willis wrote on Facebook:

"Since 2020, I’ve received over a thousand complaints about President Elect Trump’s use of Y.M.C.A. With that many complaints, I decided to ask the President Elect to stop using Y.M.C.A. because his use had become a nuisance to me."

He further explained:

"However, the use continued because the Trump campaign knew they had obtained a political use license from BMI and absent that license being terminated, they had every right to continue using Y.M.C.A. And they did."

Willis also noted that many artists had withdrawn Trump’s use of their material, but he chose to allow it. He stated:

"In fact, I started noticing numerous artists withdrawing the President Elect’s use of their material. But by the time I said to my wife one day, hey, ‘Trump’ seems to genuinely like ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and he’s having a lot of fun with it."

He added:

"So I told my wife to inform BMI to not withdraw the Trump campaign political use license."

Willis also addressed international concerns, saying:

"My French partners were contemplating legal action out of France. So I had my wife contact our French partners and asked them to stay out of the Trump campaign’s use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ because it is a U.S. matter, and I will make the decision on his use. Our French partners quickly backed off of their objection to his use."