Village People’s Victor Willis sounds off on Grammy snub with Y.M.C.A. being named to Hall of Fame

Village People’s Victor Willis sounds off on Grammy snub with Y.M.C.A. being named to org’s Hall of Fame

Village People vocalist Victor Willis is upset with the Grammys treatment of the group after their signature single Y.M.C.A. was named to organization’s Hall of Fame, but organizers did not mention the group in the award show or have a ceremony.

The Grammys should ‘show respect for classic artists who built the recording business,’ the singer-songwriter, 69, said, according to a report from TMZ Wednesday.

Willis, who is the founding member of the group, told the outlet that he informed Grammy Interim President Harvey Mason that the group was ‘not taken seriously by the recording academy’ in their honor for the 1978 hit, which occurred last December.

The latest: Village People vocalist Victor Willis (center) is upset with the Grammys treatment of the group after their signature single Y.M.C.A. was named to organization’s Hall of Fame, but organizers did not mention the group in the award show or have a ceremony 

The Dallas, Texas native told the outlet that he told Mason that the Grammys efforts toward the group were ‘lacking’ and that the organization needed to ‘get their act together.’

Willis said that the group – which also has hit songs such as Macho Man, In the Navy and Go West – was unlikely to submit their next record for Grammy consideration in the wake of the snub.

Willis is the latest artist to chime in for frustration with the Grammys, as The Weeknd was outspoken in his ire for the organization, and the politics behind its decisions, after he was snubbed despite having the year’s biggest hit, Blinding Lights.

The disco staple ran into trouble in recent years with the single, as they opposed ex-President Donald Trump’s playing the song Y.M.C.A. at his political rallies, and that he’d made repeated requests to Trump and his campaign to cease and desist playing the stalwart hit.

Controversy: Willis is the latest artist to chime in for frustration with the Grammys, as The Weeknd was outspoken in his ire for the organization over the past award season

Controversy: Willis is the latest artist to chime in for frustration with the Grammys, as The Weeknd was outspoken in his ire for the organization over the past award season 

Speaking out: Grammys should 'show respect for classic artists who built the recording business,' the singer-songwriter, 69, said, according to a report from TMZ Wednesday

Speaking out: Grammys should ‘show respect for classic artists who built the recording business,’ the singer-songwriter, 69, said, according to a report from TMZ Wednesday 

‘Though I’ve asked him to stop, now it seems the President has amped-up his use of Y.M.C.A. by using the song at the close of his speech at each of his rallies,’ Willis said last year on Facebook. ‘I receive a great deal of complaints from fans each time he plays my song.’

Willis said that despite having ‘a great deal of control over the song,’ Trump ‘has made it clear that he loves Y.M.C.A. and apparently he’s going to continue legally using it come hell or high water,’ adding, ‘yall know how he is.’

Willis, noting that he’s ‘not a Trump hater,’ said that he will ‘continue to criticize the President when he says or does something I disagree with.’

Willis said that despite his wishes Trump would quit playing the song at his rallies, he was not going to further purse the issue with legal moves.

‘I would lose in court anyway, so please stop inundating me with requests to do so,’ he said. ‘My hands are tied because as I’ve said before, his use thus far of Y.M.C.A. is perfectly legal under current copyright law.’