Disney won’t be singing “YMCA” anytime soon — because the wife of the Village People’s most famous member is suing the entertainment giant… claiming they banned the band from booking shows at their theme parks.
According to legal documents, obtained by TMZ, Karen Willis – the wife of Victor Willis and VP trademark manager for live performances — filed suit against the Mouse House late last year for what she claims was outright hostile treatment of her husband and another original member.
The whole issue stems from some performances that Willis says the Village People were hired for in 2018 — when she says Disney booked them to do their thing at Disney World in Florida.
Willis says the Village People and Disney had a good relationship until this year – saying the band had performed there annually for at least a decade – but in recent years… there has been a rift in the band with longtime members, who were trying maintain the annual show.
Long story short… Willis says that Victor and Jacques Morali – another member of OG – were allowed to perform at Disney after gaining the rights to their music from the other guys… and when they did perform in 2018, everything went well at first… but it quickly went south.
According to Willis… over the course of the 2-day job, she says she and the Village People were treated terribly by Disney – claiming she wanted to personally help with front-of-house sound duties for a better show, but was physically blocked by Disney employees and even kicked out.
What’s more… Willis claims she and Victor were physically attacked by overzealous fans in the park – which she says were planted by the shunned former band members. Willis says Disney did not provide extra security for them, despite her husband’s contract requiring it.
There’s even more… Willis says the worst part is that Disney ended up giving them a payment mess… with checks initially issued to the wrong people/groups.
Willis says that when she and her husband tried to work things out, Disney allegedly rejected them – and later, she claims that Disney didn’t hire them back for any other Disney shows… which she believes was being done on purpose. .
Disney recently filed a motion to dismiss this lawsuit, saying it had the right not to hire Village People if it didn’t want to – but the court recently rejected that… and now, the case will move forward.
Now, it looks like the Village People are getting into formation… and by the way, they’re asking for more than $20 million in damages. We reached out to Disney for comment… so far, no response.