Johnny Cash’s Estate Is Suing Coca-Cola… Here’s Why

Coca Cola not playing by the rules?

The beverage company, which owns a wide breadth of other brands like Dasani, Fairlife, and Costa Coffee, is currently in the midst of a lawsuit. The estate of one of the most recognizable names in all of music, Johnny Cash, has sued Coca-Cola because they believe they’ve mislead consumers into thinking that a song sung by the “Man in Black” is featured in one of their commercials.

Cash’s estate has officially filed the lawsuit in the state of Tennessee underneath the ELVIS Act, which actually just went into effect this past July. The act serves as protection from nonconsensual exploitation for a person’s voice, and it should work perfectly into this dispute.

Basically, Coca-Cola hired a Johnny Cash tribute artist to sing a tune (it doesn’t appear to actually be from Cash’s catalogue) that they could play over their college football commercial. Many have just assumed that it’s Johnny Cash’s voice, when in reality, it’s an impersonator.

Tim Warnock, a lawyer for Cash’s estate, stated this in the complaint:

“Coca Cola is pirating Johnny Cash’s voice in a nationwide advertising campaign to enrich itself – without asking for permission or providing any compensation

Stealing the voice of an artist is theft. It is theft of his integrity, identity and humanity. The trust brings this lawsuit to protect the voice of Johnny Cash – and to send a message that protects the voice of all of the artists whose music enriches our lives.”

The estate of the late country music singer is seeking unspecified monetary damages, and is asking for a court order to keep Coca-Cola from running the commercial.

The flip side of this? A Johnny Cash impersonator by the name of Shawn Barker was getting work through this project, and now, if the Cash estate wins this lawsuit, the ad could be pulled from television altogether. Barker’s manager, Joey Waterman, told Billboard magazine that his client (who has been performing as Cash for over 20 years) and his team were thrilled by the opportunity:

“We were thrilled when we were approached to have Shawn sing vocals for this commercial. Shawn Barker has been performing with his Cash tribute ‘The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash’ for over two decades, touring the world sharing his love of Johnny Cash’s music and stories with fans both old and new.”

And credit to Shawn Barker… he does have Cash’s vocals down pat. But it just might have been a little too good, as you can hear in the video below:

If I’m being completely honest, when I first heard that, I just assumed that it was Johnny Cash’s voice.

That probably means that Johnny Cash’s estate has a case here. If you hire a “Man in Black” impersonator rather than actually paying for the rights to Cash’s voice, and then pass it off as the actual work of the late, great country music legend, you’re probably going to run into some problems.

And this is just the latest snafu that Coca-Cola finds themselves in.

Earlier this year, the beverage brand was caught up in some internet controversy when they rolled out a AI-generated Christmas commercial for the second year in a row. Coca-Cola must have a “too big to fail” mindset, because it certainly seems like they haven’t been worried about the little things as of late.