In this Dec. 31, 2009 handout provided by the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, the musical group The Village People perform a New Year’s Eve concert at the hotel, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

One of the more irritating things about an election year is how liberal entertainers commence with The Great Freakout™ over use of their music by Republican candidates for office during campaign events.

Over the years, numerous solo artists and musical groups like Van Halen, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Pharrell have all at one time or another demanded Republicans stop using their tunes on the campaign trail, all under the pretense that they’re afraid the people listening and/or attending will think they’re endorsing the candidate.

The real reason, of course, is to punish the Republican for WrongThink.

One group, however, has come up with a more sensible answer to calls from outrage mobs to ban Republicans from playing their songs. The Village People recently shut down demands from leftists to keep President Trump from being able to play their popular hits like “YMCA” and “Macho Man” at campaign stops.

From their Facebook page:

Since our music is not being used for a specific endorsement, the President’s use is “perfect[ly]” legal.



He has remained respectful in his use of our songs and has not crossed the line; if he or any other candidate were to use any of our songs in a manner that would suggest our endorsement, or in a promotional advertisement, that would cross the line.



Like millions of Village People fans worldwide, the President and his supporters have shown a genuine like for our music.

Read their full post below:

Watch and listen as “Macho Man” was played at Sardar Patel Stadium in India as Trump took the stage there alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week:

India plays "Macho Man" by Village People as Trump enters Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is packed with 110,000 Indians wearing white "Trump" hats pic.twitter.com/tJW08sNNDa — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 24, 2020

Often when this topic has popped up, I’ve thought about what I’d do in the musician’s situation. My thought has always been that I’d let the candidate use my music, even if they were a Democrat. And if music sales started to jump from their use of it, I’d use the money I received from it to donate to candidates and causes that were important to me.

That may or may not be what the Village People ultimately do, especially considering their iconic status with the gay community (which is one of the reason’s Trump’s use of their songs became an “issue” in the first place) but either way, hats off to them for handling this like mature adults with no axe to grind.