The Village People respond to Donald Trump using 'Y.M.C.A.' in his final remarks as president

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The Village People issued a response after Donald Trump defiantly used their hit "Y.M.C.A." one last time at his final address as president Wednesday. 

Trump left the White House for the last time early in the morning and headed for Joint Base Andrews as he was about to fly to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Before departing, he gave remarks for the last time as president before leaving the stage, as he often has, to the group’s 1978 disco hit. 

The artists, who have previously asked Trump to desist in using their music at his events, issued a response to Trump closing out his presidency to their song in a statement to Fox News.

"We have no ill will towards the President, but we asked him to cease and desist long ago," the group said. "However, since he's a bully, our request was ignored.

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The Village People called out Donald Trump for using their hit 'Y.M.C.A.' (CBS via Getty Images)

They continued: "Thankfully he's now out of office, so it would seem his abusive use of our music has finally ended. We hope to spearhead a change in copyright law that will give artists and publishers more control over who can and cannot use our music in the public space. Currently there is no limit to blanket licensing." 

In June, Village People frontman Victor Willis issued a lengthy statement on Facebook chastising Trump for controversial remarks he made about the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in May. He tacked on to his remarks a request for Trump to stop using songs like "Y.M.C.A." and "Macho Man."

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"Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way," he said at the time.

In August, Willis doubled down on his remarks, explaining to fans that there isn’t much he can legally do to prevent Trump from using the track.

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Victor Willis of Village People previously called on Donald Trump to stop using their songs. (Daniel Boczarski/Redferns)

"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. I receive a great deal of complaints from fans each time he plays my song," Willis wrote. "It is true, I wrote the lyrics to Y.M.C.A. and exercise a great deal of control over the song. However, the President 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... yall know how he is."

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Although The Village People never took legal action against Trump, other artists with similar complaints about the use of their song such as Neil Young, Linkin Park and The Rolling Stones have.