Add Mike Huckabee and Kim Davis to the long list of right-wing luminaries who swiped music for their rallies without bothering to ask the singer’s permission. The Republican presidential hopeful and the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk may be in hot water for using “Eye of the Tiger,” the theme from “Rocky III,” at today’s rally on Davis’ behalf. But it seems no one checked to see if Survivor, the band behind the 1982 hit, approved.
For those who missed it, Davis spent most of the weekend in jail after being held in contempt of court for defying a federal judge’s order to resume issuing marriage licenses. Davis, who has vowed to resume turning couples away regardless of orientation in protest of the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality, put in a surprise appearance at a rally Mike Huckabee organized on her behalf. She took the stage to the strains of “Eye of the Tiger.”
There’s just one problem. Nobody from Huckabee or Davis’ camps bothered to check with Survivor. A friend of Survivor frontman Frankie Sullivan watched the rally earlier today and tipped Sullivan off on Facebook that Huckabee and Davis had swiped “Eye of the Tiger.” Sullivan hit the ceiling. He posted the following message to his personal page, as well as Survivor’s official Facebook page:
“NO! We did not grant Kim Davis any rights to use “My Tune -The Eye Of The Tiger.”
I would not grant her the rights to use Charmin! C’mom Mike, you are not The Donald but you can do better than that –
See Ya really SoooooooonnnnnnN!!!!!!”
According to the New Civil Rights Movement, it’s not all that surprising that those in the Davis camp apparently have little regard for copyright. One of Davis’ main backers is the National Organization for Marriage, which has swiped copyrighted material on numerous occasions. For instance, NOM took pictures from Obama rallies and merged them with pictures from their own modestly attended rallies to make it look like they had several times more support than they actually did. They were caught red-handed doing it not only once, but twice!
TMZ reports that Sullivan and his bandmates are seriously considering legal action against the Huckabee and/or Davis camps. According to TMZ, while Survivor is “hedging” on what to do next, a band rep says his clients are “determined to protect the integrity of their music.”
Huckabee says that we should only obey a law when we feel it’s right. Hmm–I guess Huckabee doesn’t think copyright laws are right.
