'Eye of the Tiger' Cost Huckabee $25K

Mike Huckabee played "Eye of the Tiger" at a rally last year while he was running for president, and the move cost him $25,000, CNNMoney reports. Huckabee, who played the Survivor song at a rally for anti-gay-marriage Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, didn't get permission from the band and didn't pay for the rights, so Rude Music (the company owned by the Survivor guitarist who co-wrote the song) sued Huckabee's campaign for copyright infringement. The suit was settled out of court.

The confidential settlement was discovered because Huckabee listed the $25,000 "legal settlement [for] copyright infringement" as a campaign expense on federal election records. Half of it was paid in May, listed as an "itemized disbursement." That and the other half, listed as "debts and obligations," appear on a June 20 filing. Before settling, Huckabee argued in courts that the rally was a religious event, thus allowing him to play the song under fair use rules. But, since Huckabee claimed the rally as an expense for his campaign, that idea didn't hold up. (More Mike Huckabee stories.)