Federal lawsuit filed against John Cena, WWE & TKO
Image: WWE
The time is now…for a new federal lawsuit filed against John Cena, TKO and WWE.
First reported by Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston on Thursday, the suit filed Tuesday in the Southern District Court of New York accuses Cena, WWE, TKO and others of using an unlicensed sample from a 1974 recording cover by Canadian bandleader Pete Schofield.
That sample is alleged to appear in Cena’s “The Time Is Now” entrance music he has used for years.
“The dispute centers around the iconic horn arrangements that introduce and play throughout the theme,” he wrote.
Schofield has since passed with the lawsuit filed by his daughter, Kim, who claims she owns the copyrights to the music, also claiming it’s an original arrangement. Despite the song being a cover of a song by Bobby Russell, she said the horn intro and outro were originally added by her father and came from an instrumental cover of “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”.
Aside from the three defendants above, producer Jacob Brian Dutton, music publisher Pix-Russ Music, and Cynthia Jo Russell, widow of Bobby Russell and co-owner of his recording, were named. They have 21 days to respond under federal court rules after officially being served court papers which could be up to 60 days if they waive the delivery.
Why has this not come up before?
“Schofield alleges that in 2017, she reached a written settlement with WWE and received a one-time payment of $50,000. However, she now claims WWE withheld key information during negotiations to induce her to sign the agreement,” Thurston wrote, later noting Schofield said she became aware of Cena’s theme in 2015 when a reporter reached out to her.
She is seeking that agreement to be invalidated and also damages of more than $150,000.
The lawsuit alleged Dutton used the sample in 2003. Thurston included a YouTube video in his article that shows Dutton in it, displaying a Schofield album cover “while explaining how he looped its intro and outro to build the beat.” In the video, he said he got $60,000 for his work, later saying in an ESPN article that it was $30,000 for three beats.
“The family settled with WWE in 2017 for $50,000. Schofield now asks the court to void that agreement, saying WWE withheld information about the long-term use of the sample and an upcoming national ad campaign,” Thurston wrote in his detailed piece.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.