Huckabee Forced To Pay 25K For Playing A Song At His Kim Davis Celebration

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When Kentucky clerk Kim Davis was released from jail, Mike Huckabee played “Eye of the Tiger” to show his excitement and support for her cause. Now he is dealing with some legal problems for his show of enthusiasm.

Davis was sent to jail for contempt when she would not issue marriage licenses to gay couples, even though the Supreme Court ruled in favor of it the previous year. When Rude Music, the record company that owns the rights to the Survivor song, discovered Huckabee’s unlawful use of the song and copyright infringement.

The former Republican presidential candidate’s campaign claimed that the event was a “religious assembly” and therefore it’s not necessary to pay because it’s “non-commercial.” However it was discovered that the event was paid for by the campaign.

Huckabee came to a classified settlement but some investigation revealed campaign finance disclosure forms from the Federal Election Commission that unveil a payment of $12,500 to Rude Music, Inc. recorded as “legal settlement” for “copyright infringement.”

This was one of two payments he is required to make and was listed as an “itemized disbursement”.

Huckabee accepted the loss and settled out of court, but has been struggling to pay off debts.