Eye of the Tiger plays at Kim Davis' rally. Huckabee sued for playing 'Eye of the Tiger' at Kim Davis rally

A member of the rock band Survivor is suing Mike Huckabee for copyright infringement over the use of the group’s ubiquitous “Rocky III” hit song, “Eye of the Tiger.”

Rude Music, operated by founding Survivor member and song co-author Frank M. Sullivan III, filed suit in an Illinois federal court Wednesday alleging that the former Arkansas governor violated a copyright in September when he escorted Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis out of the Carter County Detention Center to the “Eye of the Tiger” tune.


Huckabee, a Republican White House hopeful, led Davis out of jail Sept. 8 and into a rally, which was scheduled before the announcement of her release. Davis was jailed for five days after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite the landmark Supreme Court case legalizing same-six marriage nationwide. “If somebody needs to go to jail, I’m willing to go in her place,” Huckabee said to the crowd.

Huckabee, however, isn’t the first Republican presidential candidate to find himself in litigation over use of the song. Rude Music filed a complaint against Newt Gingrich in 2012 for allegedly using the Grammy award-winning track at several events going back to 2009.