A United States federal court has ruled that South African composer Lebohang “Lebo M” Morake must pay Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi US$39,560 in statutory attorneys’ fees, following a legal dispute over a joke about The Lion King’s iconic Zulu chant.
The ruling came after Jonasi, born Learnmore Mwanyenyeka, successfully established himself as the prevailing party under California’s anti-SLAPP law.
This followed Morake’s decision to abandon his original claims against the comedian.
The legal battle stemmed from comments Jonasi made during a podcast appearance, in which he jokingly offered his own translation of the famous opening chant, “Nants’ ingonyama bagithi Baba”, from The Lion King’s “Circle of Life”.
Instead of the traditional interpretation associated with the Zulu praise chant, Jonasi humorously rendered it as, “Look, there’s a lion. Oh my God.”
The joke subsequently drew the attention of Morake, who was involved in the creation and production of music associated with The Lion King.
Morake launched a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in California, alleging defamation and misrepresentation, and arguing that Jonasi’s comments trivialised what he regarded as a significant cultural composition.
In delivering the judgement he court calculated Jonasi’s reasonable attorneys’ fees at US$39,560, but declined his request for an upward multiplier that would have increased the award.
Jonasi reportedly paid only about US$5,350 out of pocket for his legal representation, with his lawyers substantially discounting their fees while defending the comedian’s First Amendment free-speech rights.
In its ruling on attorneys’ fees, the court made clear that it was not determining which translation of the Zulu phrase was linguistically or culturally correct.
Instead, the court’s decision focused on whether Jonasi qualified as the prevailing party for purposes of California’s anti-SLAPP law after Morake withdrew his claims.
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