The Daily Caller logo
Entertainment

REPORT: Pastor Sues Kanye West For Alleged Copyright Infringement

Fast Company Innovation Festival - Day 3 Arrivals

Brad Barket/Getty Images

Leena Nasir Entertainment Reporter
Font Size:

Kanye West has been sued for copyright infringement by Bishop David P. Moten, who filed papers Tuesday in a Dallas, Texas court.

Moten named Def Jam Recordings, UMG Recordings Inc., Ye (previously known as Kanye West,) and G.O.O.D. Music in his litigation, which accused West of unauthorized and unlicensed use of his sermon, according to court documents revealed by Billboard. He alleges that snippets of his sermon were used in West’s “Come to Life” single, on the “Donda” album.

Court documents filed by Moten allege that “Come to Life is “approximately five minutes and ten seconds (5:10) in length” and the documents reveal that  “Approximately one minute and ten seconds (1:10) of this sound recording is sampled directly from Plaintiff’s sermon and appears to run on a loop underscoring the pre-chorus and chorus throughout the song in question.” Moten claims that 20% of that song reflects his sermon and belongs to him.

The sound recording “Come to Life” includes the following repeated, unauthorized, unlicensed samples from the Sermon: “My soul cries out, ‘Hallelujah’ And I thank God for saving me I, I thank God,” as reported in the court documents.
“Hallelujah (Thank You, Jesus) Hallelujah (Yes) Hallelujah…” was another clip sampled by West within the lyrics of the song, and then also played softly in the background, and Moten claims this was also taken directly from his sermon. (RELATED: Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Case, Takes To Instagram To Lament Allegations)

In addition to the allegations that Kanye ripped his sermon and used samples of his sermon for his own gain, Moten also pointed out that this wasn’t an isolated situation. Citing his concerns for this ongoing behavior, Moten’s court document revealed, “Over the span of several years, Defendants have demonstrated an alarming pattern and practice of willfully and egregiously sampling sound recordings of others without consent or permission.” 
This isn’t the first copyright infringement suit that West has faced. He settled a similar suit in 2020 which stemmed from the alleged sampling of a child’s prayer which was used in “Ultralight Beam,” and released on his 2016 album, The Life of Pablo, according to Digital Music News.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Daily Caller Shows ✔ ✔ ✔
Ad Free Experience ✔ ✔ ✔
Exclusive Articles ✔ ✔ ✔
Custom Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Editor Daily Rundown ✔ ✔ ✔
Behind The Scenes Coverage ✔ ✔
Award Winning Documentaries ✔ ✔
Patriot War Room ✔ ✔
Patriot Live Chat ✔ ✔
Exclusive Events ✔
Gold Membership Card ✔
Tucker Mug ✔

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel