Lion King Composer Lebo M Sues Comedian for $27 Million Over 'Circle of Life' Translation Dispute

Grammy-winning South African composer Lebohang Morake — known professionally as Lebo M — has filed a $27 million lawsuit against Zimbabwean stand-up comedian Learnmore Mwanyenyeka, who performs as Learnmore Jonasi, alleging that Jonasi intentionally misrepresented the meaning of the iconic opening chant from Disney's The Lion King and damaged Morake's professional reputation in the process. The suit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, according to reporting by the Associated Press, The Guardian, and People magazine.

What Morake Wrote — and What Jonasi Said

Morake wrote and performed the opening chant that launches both the original 1994 Disney film and its 2019 remake. 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." The chant continues: "Hay! baba, sizongqoba," which Morake translates as "Through you we will emerge victoriously," according to AP News.

The lawsuit centers on statements Jonasi made on the Nigerian podcast One54 and in subsequent stand-up performances. In the podcast episode cited in the complaint, the hosts initially sing the chant incorrectly, and Jonasi corrects them: "That's not how you sing it, don't mess up our language like that." He then sings the proper Zulu lyrics — and when asked what they mean, he says they translate to: "Look, there's a lion. Oh my god." The hosts laugh, remarking they had always imagined the words meant something "more beautiful and majestic," as recounted by AP and The Guardian.

The lawsuit accuses Jonasi of intentionally mocking "the chant's cultural significance with exaggerated imitations," per the complaint reviewed by both AP News and The Guardian.

The Legal Arguments

Morake's legal team does not dispute that "ingonyama" can literally translate to "lion" in Zulu. However, the complaint argues the word is deployed in the song as a "royal metaphor" invoking kingship, and that Jonasi's rendering — presented as a comic punchline — intentionally stripped that cultural and spiritual context, according to AP News and The Guardian's reporting on the filed complaint.

The suit claims Jonasi presented his translation "as authoritative fact, not comedy," which the complaint argues should disqualify it from the First Amendment protections typically afforded parody and satire. Morake's lawyers allege the statements have interfered with his business relationships with Disney and with royalty income from the song, claiming more than $20 million in actual damages. The suit seeks an additional $7 million in punitive damages, bringing the total to $27 million, per AP News and People.

Jonasi's March 12 stand-up performance in Los Angeles, where he made a similar joke about the chant, "received a standing ovation," according to the lawsuit as cited by AP News and The Guardian.

How the Dispute Went Viral

The podcast appearance and subsequent stand-up performances triggered a social media confrontation between the two men. Jonasi, who has continued his U.S. tour, posted an Instagram video last week addressing the lawsuit that received more than 100,000 likes, according to AP News. In the video, he said he is "a big fan" of Morake's work. He initially said he wanted to collaborate on a video explaining the chant's deeper meaning — citing what he sees as an educational opportunity — but said Morake called him "self-hating" in private messages, prompting him to reconsider, per AP's reporting.

Jonasi's broader critique of The Lion King, as described in AP News and The Guardian, extends beyond the chant itself: he has argued the franchise profits off simplified depictions of the African continent for non-African audiences. "The lions had American accents in Africa, and then you had the monkey with an accent," he said in the podcast episode cited in the complaint. He extended the critique to include the Black Panther films and other American pop-culture portrayals of Africa.

Context: The Lion King and Cultural Ownership

"Circle of Life" was written with music by Elton John and English-language lyrics by Tim Rice for the 1994 Disney film. Morake composed and performed the Zulu and Xhosa chants that open the song, representing the African-language dimension of what became one of Disney's most recognizable musical sequences. The song went on to anchor both the Broadway musical adaptation and the 2019 CGI remake. Morake, who has won a Grammy Award, has long been identified as a key cultural voice behind the franchise's African musical identity.

Disney did not respond to an emailed request for comment from AP News. Jonasi did not have a publicly listed attorney at the time of filing, and a representative did not respond to AP's request for comment either.

The Free Speech Question

The complaint's attempt to argue that Jonasi's translation was presented "as authoritative fact, not comedy" is a legally contested position. Courts have generally extended broad First Amendment protection to comedians performing material on stage, even when that material involves factual claims about artistic works. Whether a federal court would accept the complaint's framing — that the comedic context did not neutralize the defamatory nature of the translation — remains to be determined in litigation. No court rulings have been issued in the case as of publication.

The case raises a question that extends well beyond this particular dispute: when a comedian from an African country performs material critiquing how an American studio rendered African culture and language, and does so using his own linguistic expertise, where does legitimate cultural commentary end and legally actionable defamation begin? That question will now be argued in a Los Angeles federal courtroom.

What to Watch

Jonasi is currently on a U.S. tour. The case is at its early stages, with no hearing dates yet publicly announced. Disney's posture — as the company with the most at stake financially from any ruling that touches on the chant's meaning and use — remains unclear. Morake has not commented publicly beyond the lawsuit itself.

Sources: AP News (March 24, 2026); The Guardian (March 25, 2026); People magazine (March 18, 2026); Boing Boing (March 23, 2026); Complex (March 23, 2026).