A Disney vocalist’s eight-figure lawsuit over a joke about famed lyrics found the humor lost in translation as the comedian was accused of being a “self-hating” black man.
Readily recognizable as the opening song of 1994’s Academy Award-winning “The Lion King,” few members of the original American audience were likely able to discern what South African composer Lebohang Morake was singing in Zulu as he belted out, “Nants’ingonyama bagithi Baba.”
Now, in the wake of a joke that the lyrics from the “Circle of Life” translated to “Look! There’s a lion! Oh my God!” Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi faces a $27 million lawsuit alleging the humor will hurt Morake’s continued royalties.
“When this man first approached me, he approached me with the attitude of saying that I am disrespecting his work, right? And I was like, ‘No, actually, I am a big fan of yours. I actually love the song.’ And therefore, this was just a joke, and comedy has always had a way of starting a conversation,” Jonasi said in an Instagram video. “I told him this. This is now your chance to educate people because now people are listening.”
The comedian went on to share a video from a performance at a Laugh Factory where he got served while on stage. Forced to explain to the audience that it wasn’t a bit, Jonasi, who shared a clip of his interview where he initially made the joke, later quipped over the development, “I now have a gluten allergy, anxiety, I got served. I’m now American!”
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According to Morake’s own translation of the lyrics, the Zulu words mean, “All hail the king, we all bow in the presence of the king.”
Jonasi went on to claim in his social media post that the composer accused him of being a “self-hating” black man and an “idiot,” leading him to conclude, “I realize I’m not actually having a conversation with someone who wants to do that. This person is literally not attacking the joke but my character.”
Meanwhile, as the suit claimed the joke had caused a negative impact on the composer’s royalties and his reputation, as it allegedly “diminishes” the value of the “Circle of Life,” the comedian made the case that it was helping Morake.
Detailing how he’d received countless videos of people holding up their dogs and repeating his line, “Look, it’s a lion. Oh my God!” Jonasi told the New York Post, “I’ve actually gotten a lot of messages saying, ‘Hey, that joke actually made me wanna go back and watch the movie again.’ It has revived people’s interest in the song. It actually made it more relevant.”
Worth noting, even Disney made the challenging lyrics the butt of a joke when it released “The Lion King 1 1/2” in 2004, telling the story from the perspective of Timon and Pumbaa, with the former, voiced by Nathan Lane, singing along to the opening, “What’s on the menu? It could be ceviche. It’s stinky. Ooh, it’s Pumbaa.”
(Video Credit: The Lion King)
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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