Hakuna matata
Last year, over 37,000 people signed a petition to get Walt Disney to reverse the trademark of the Swahili phrase “Hakuna Matata” which means “No Worries” or “No Problem”.
Hakuna Matata was registered since 2003 in the United States after the release of the 1994 film, The Lion King, which made the phrase popular.
Disney’s recent announcement of a live-action remake of The Lion King, which will be released in July 2019, revealed the registration of Hakuna Matata as a trademark and this incensed some Africans who accused the entertainment company of cultural appropriation.
The protesters were led by Zimbabwean-Canadian activist, Shelton Mpala, who launched an online petition on change.org to reverse Disney’s action.
“I liken this to colonialism and robbery, the appropriation of something you have no right over. Imagine, if we were to go that route, then we owe the British royalties for everyone who speaks English, or France for when we speak French,” he wrote on the petition.
Even in the 1980s, way before the release of The Lion King in 1994, Hakuna Matata was the title of the classic song recorded by Kenyan band Them Mushrooms.
