Composer of iconic 'Lion King' chant sues comedian over 'Circle of Life'
translation
[March 25, 2026]
By SAFIYAH RIDDLE
A Grammy-award winning South African composer who wrote and performed
the iconic opening chant in “Circle of Life” for Disney's “The Lion
King" movies is suing a comedian for allegedly damaging his reputation
by intentionally misrepresenting the song's meaning on a podcast and in
his stand-up routine.
Lebohang Morake's lawsuit accuses Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore
Mwanyenyeka, known as Learnmore Jonasi, of intentionally mistranslating
the chant, which launches the 1994 Disney movie and is central to staged
versions as well as Disney's 2019 remake.
The dispute, which has gone viral as the two men challenge each other on
social media, stems from statements Jonasi made in his stand-up routines
and in a recent podcast interview, where he translated the song's lyrics
from Zulu and Xhosa, two of South Africa’s 12 national languages.
The lawsuit was filed this month in federal court in Los Angeles, where
Morake, who performs as Lebo M, lives and where Jonasi recently
performed. It accuses Jonasi of intentionally mocking “the chant’s
cultural significance with exaggerated imitations.”
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.”
“Hay! baba, sizongqoba,” the chant continues. It translates to “Through
you we will emerge victoriously,” according to Morake.
In the episode of One54 cited in the lawsuit, the podcast's Nigerian
hosts initially sing the chant with incoherent and incorrect words.
Jonasi corrects them, and says “That's not how you sing it, don't mess
up our language like that.”
Jonasi then sings the correct lyrics in Zulu. When asked, he says they
translate to: “Look, there’s a lion. Oh my god.” The hosts burst out
laughing, saying that they had previously thought the chant was
something more “beautiful and majestic.”
“Circle of Life,” with music by Elton John and English-language lyrics
by Tim Rice, came up in the broader context of Jonasi's critique of “The
Lion King” franchise as profiting off of simplistic narratives about the
African continent for non-African audiences.
“The lions had American accents in Africa, and then you had the monkey
with an accent," Jonasi said, and they went on to critique the “Black
Panther” movies and other renderings of Africa in popular American
culture.
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 Morake's lawyers acknowledged in the
complaint that “ingonyama” can literally translate to “lion,” but
say it's 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."
The lawsuit says Jonasi “received a standing ovation” for a similar
joke he made about the song during a March 12 stand-up performance
in Los Angeles. Such viral statements, it says, are interfering with
Morake’s business relationships with Disney and his income from
royalties, causing more than $20 million in actual damages. The
lawsuit also seeks $7 million in punitive damages.
Disney didn't respond to an emailed request for comment on Monday
night.
The complaint also argues that Jonasi presented his translation “as
authoritative fact, not comedy” so it shouldn't get the First
Amendment protections afforded to parody and satire that make fun of
other artistic works.
Jonasi doesn’t have an attorney publicly listed for the case, and a
representative didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment on
Monday night, but the comedian offered some thoughts in a video
posted last week as he continues his U.S. tour.
Jonasi said he's a “big fan” of Morake’s work and loves the song.
When he learned that Morake was upset, the comedian said, he wanted
to create a video with Morake explaining the song's deeper meaning.
“Comedy always has a way of starting conversation,” Jonasi said in
the video he posted on Instagram, which got more than 100,000 likes.
"This is your chance to actually educate people, because now people
are listening.”
But Jonasi said he changed his mind about collaborating with Morake
when he said the composer called him “self-hating” as they exchanged
messages following the Feb. 25 podcast. He said Morake’s reaction
ignored the rest of his work delving into a more nuanced critique of
American renderings of African identity.
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