Mike Huckabee Pays $25K for Unauthorized Use of 'Eye of the Tiger'

Mike Huckabee paid $25,000 for unauthorized use of the song "Eye of the Tiger" during a rally held last year for Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was briefly jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, CNN reported.

Huckabee, who was a Republican presidential candidate at the time, had not paid for the rights to the song and later entered into a confidential settlement with Rude Music, said CNN. Rude Music is owned by Frankie Sullivan, the guitarist for the band Survivor and co-writer of the song.

The Huckabee campaign wasn't keen on admitting its error and the amount paid had to be teased out of various campaign spending reports.

Rude Music's lawsuit against the Huckabee campaign was filed last November, according to MSNBC. The settlement's cost was tucked away as a campaign expense on Huckabee's federal election records, listed as "legal settlement" and "copyright infringement," noted CNN.

The Huckabee campaign paid half of the settlement in May, listing the $12,500 payment as an "itemized disbursement." The campaign listed the other half as "debts and obligations," which both appeared on a June 20 filing, noted CNN.

In responding to the Rude Music lawsuit in January, the Huckabee campaign said in a filed document that the "We Stand with God Pro-Family Rally" in support of Davis was not a political event. The response said Huckabee "spoke instead of God, religion, Mrs. Davis, the role of the courts, and the U.S. Constitution. Moreover, Mr. Huckabee explicitly proclaimed that his message was non-partisan and was not in support or criticism of any major political party."

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