Lion King composer sues comedian for $27m after Circle of Life lyrics joke
Cracking a joke about the The Lion King might have just cost this comedian a whopping $27 million.
Learnmore Mwanyenyeka has just been slapped with a huge lawsuit after being accused of deliberately misrepresenting the meaning of the iconic chant which kicks off the song 'Circle of Life'.
The bloke behind these legendary vocals, Lebohang Morake, really isn't happy about what the stand-up star said during an interview last month.
During an appearance on the One54 podcast in February, the comedian - who is known as Learnmore Jonasi - and hosts Akbar and Godfrey began discussing the beloved 1994 Disney film.
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The pair of presenters both attempted to sing the iconic chant featured in 'Circle of Life', before Jonasi, 32, suggested they were both butchering it and offered to show them how it was done.
"That's not how you sing it," the funnyman said, while stating that the phrase 'Nants’ingonyama bagithi Baba' was Zulu. "Don't mess up our language like that."
Jonasi then claimed that when translated to English, these lyrics actually mean: "Look, there’s a lion. Oh my god!"
After the hosts shared their surprise at this supposed news, Akbar protested: "You're joking. That is not what that means! This whole time I thought it was like this like this beautiful, majestic..."
Jonasi insisted it was 'exactly what it means' while stifling laughter, before fellow comedian Godfrey joked: "Lion King [are] gonna call you!"
It turns out that Godfrey was right, as the Grammy Award-winning composer who penned and performed the chant in 'Circle of Life' has launched court proceedings over the contents of this conversation.
Morake, who goes by the stage name Lebo M, filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court this month.
It alleges that Jonasi intentionally mocked the chant's 'cultural significance with exaggerated imitations' during the episode of One54 podcast, as well as during a stand-up gig in Los Angeles on 12 March.
The suit claims that the comedian 'received a standing ovation' after making a similar gag about the meaning behind the chant in 'Circle of Life' in front of an audience.
For context, Disney’s official translation of the opening phrase 'Nants’ingonyama bagithi Baba' is: "All hail the king, we all bow in the presence of the king."
Morake says the following line - 'Hay! baba, sizongqoba' - means: "Through you we will emerge victoriously."
According to the South African composer, the statements made by Jonasi - which he says went viral - are interfering with his business relationships with Disney as well as his income from royalties.
He claims the impact of Jonasi's words have caused him more than $20 million in actual damages. The lawsuit also seeks $7 million in punitive damages.
Morake - who has worked on the soundtracks of films such as The Power of One, Outbreak, the 2019 remake of The Lion King and Mufasa: The Lion King - alleges that the comic presented his translation as 'authoritative fact, not comedy'.
The lawsuit states: "Jonasi’s reduction to 'Look, there’s a lion. Oh my god' is not a simplified translation - it is a fabricated, trivialising distortion, meant as a sick joke for unlawful self-profit and destruction of the imaginative and artistic work of Lebo M."
Therefore, the 61-year-old argues that Jonasi's comments should not be given the First Amendment protections that are afforded to parody and satire that make fun of other artistic works.
Jonasi, who described himself as a 'big fan of Morake's work, said he offered to make a video with the music producer after discovering he didn't like his remarks, where they both delved into the deeper meaning of 'Circle of Life'.
"Comedy always has a way of starting conversation,” Jonasi said in a video he posted on Instagram. "This is your chance to actually educate people, because now people are listening."
However, he claimed that he then took this offer off of the table after the composer called him 'self-hating' when they exchanged messages after the podcast was released on 25 February.
He said Morake’s reaction ignored how the rest of his work delving into a more nuanced critique of American renderings of African identity, as he had also discussed how he believes that The Lion King profited off simplistic narratives about the African continent for non-African audiences in the One54 episode.
"The lions had American accents in Africa, and then you had the monkey with an accent," Jonasi said on the podcast.
Morake’s lawyers acknowledged in the complaint that 'ingonyama' can literally translate to 'lion' - but say it is used in the song as a 'royal metaphor' that invokes kingship, and that Jonasi intentionally misrepresented 'an African vocal proclamation grounded in South African tradition'. Morake is seeking a jury trial over the 'Circle of Life' row.
LADbible has contacted Disney for comment as well as representatives of Jonasi.
Olivia Burke