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Lebo M lawsuit over ‘Lion King’ chant sparks debate

A cultural expert and the general public voiced their thoughts and reactions to a lawsuit by comedian Lebo M against fellow comedian Learnmore Jonasi, whom he accused of intentionally "mistranslating" the famous Lion King opening chant he composed.

READ MORE : http://www.africanews.com/2026/04/01/expert-public-react-with-calm-to-lion-king-translation-lawsuit

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00:00It's a viral dispute. South African composer Libo M. filed a lawsuit earlier this month
00:06against comedian Learnmore Jonazi, whom he accused of intentionally mistranslating
00:11the famous opening song of the Lion King movie.
00:14The lawsuit said that Jonazi had mocked the chant's cultural significance,
00:18but a cultural expert said otherwise.
00:21If they say Nancy Goyama, it's simply saying, here is the king.
00:28But that is creative work we're talking about.
00:33So creative work tends to be loose on strict meanings of things.
00:38But as far as we understand that where Lion King, that's what it is.
00:46It simply is a symbolic representation of a king as a person.
00:50So I'm unable to see how anyone who's a Zulu would be offended by those realities.
01:00It happens all the time in traumatic works that even in praises for the king,
01:10some of the words get twisted to have an impact.
01:15And it's not seen as cultural defamation or insult.
01:18Some South Africans also viewed the incident, which happened during an appearance by Jonazi
01:24on a podcast, as a simple joke, rather than disrespect for Zulu culture.
01:28I don't think Level M should be suing that much money, because there's a lot of money.
01:34For an average comedian to have that much money, it's really impossible.
01:40There's a lot of money to get hold of.
01:42And it's not easy, it's not easy.
01:44And I don't think he tenderised to make the comic to be bad towards the culture or anything.
01:53It was just a moment thing.
01:55The complaint also argues that Jonazi's statements interfered with the composer's business relationship
02:02with Disney and affected his income from royalties.
02:05Libo M has sued Jonazi for $27 million in damages.
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02:13La
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