{"id":531819,"date":"2026-03-19T00:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/531819\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:34:13","slug":"lion-king-chant-composer-files-27m-lawsuit-against-comedian-over-songs-alleged-misinterpretation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/531819\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLion King\u201d Chant Composer Files $27M Lawsuit Against Comedian Over Song’s Alleged Misinterpretation"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

Grammy-winning composer Lebo M is suing comedian Learnmore Jonasi for defamation and other claims over a viral podcast clip<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges Jonasi misrepresented the meaning of the iconic chant from Disney’s The Lion King<\/p>\n

Lebo M is seeking $27 million in damages, claiming the comedian trivialized his work and cultural significance<\/p>\n

The composer behind the famous chant at the beginning of Disney’s\u00a0The Lion King is suing a comedian for allegedly misrepresenting\u00a0the meaning of the iconic lyrics.<\/p>\n

Grammy Award-winning composer Lebohang Morake, known professionally as Lebo M, filed a lawsuit on March 16 in California against comedian Learnmore Jonasi (nee Learnmore Mwanyenyeka). Jonasi went viral in a clip from the\u00a0One54 Africa\u00a0podcast for allegedly making “false statements of fact about the meaning of the ‘Nants\u2019ingonyama’ composition,” according to the complaint obtained by PEOPLE.<\/p>\n

The chant, “Nants\u2019ingonyama bagithi Baba,” is used in both the original 1994 movie and the 2019 adaptation. Hans Zimmer composed the film’s score, with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice.<\/p>\n

Jonasi is being sued for misleading representation in violation of the Lantham Act, defamation per se, trade libel and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

\"Lebo<\/p>\n

Lebo M. at the 97th Oscars held at the Dolby Theatre on March 2, 2025 in Hollywood, California
Credit: Gregg DeGuire\/Penske Media via Getty<\/p>\n

In the One54 Africa podcast clip, Jonasi claims that the chant, \u201cNants\u2019ingonyama bagithi Baba\u201d translates to \u201cLook, there\u2019s a lion. Oh my god.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges that Jonasi “presented this as authoritative fact, not comedy,” and that in doing so he “mocked the chant\u2019s cultural significance with exaggerated imitations.”<\/p>\n

\"Learnmore<\/p>\n

Learnmore Jonasi on Americas Got Talent
Credit: Trae Patton\/NBC via Getty<\/p>\n

“Jonasi\u2019s reduction to ‘Look, there\u2019s a lion. Oh my god’ is not a simplified translation\u2014it is a fabricated, trivializing distortion, meant as a sick joke for unlawful self-profit and destruction of the imaginative and artistic work of Lebo M,” the complaint says. “The true meaning of Nants\u2019 ingonyama bagithi Baba is ‘All hail the king, we all bow in the presence of the king.'”<\/p>\n

After the podcast clip went viral, Morake messaged Jonasi on Instagram, per the suit. In one of the messages in the exchange, Morake allegedly told Jonasi that his “Stated comments were not part of standup and sought to ‘erase over 30 years of work,'” to which Jonasi disagreed.<\/p>\n

Morake is seeking a jury trial and $27, 000, 000 in damages.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Grammy-winning composer Lebo M is suing comedian Learnmore Jonasi for defamation and other claims over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[85348,239065,88,239063,239066,239064,206],"class_list":["post-531819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-cultural-significance","tag-disney39s-the-lion-king","tag-entertainment","tag-learnmore-jonasi","tag-lebo-m","tag-lebohang-morake","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}