After making his chart debut with 1955’s “Cry! Cry! Cry!” Johnny Cash enjoyed a massively successful career as a pivotal figure in the outlaw country music. Today, 22 years after his death at age 71, country music fans continue to celebrate and honor his impact. However, the Man in Black’s estate apparently feels that Coca-Cola mishandled Cash’s legacy. They recently accused the soft drink company of illegally mimicking the singer-songwriter’s voice for a college football ad.
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The manager of Cash’s estate, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust, filed a federal lawsuit against Coca-Cola on Tuesday (Nov. 25) in Nashville. The complaint cited a song in a commercial, which has been airing since August during college football games. The voice in the ad belongs to a professional Cash tribute performer named Shawn Barker, who sounds “remarkably” like the late Country Music Hall of Famer.
“Stealing the voice of an artist is theft. It is theft of his integrity, identity and humanity,” lawyer Tim Warnock of Loeb & Loeb wrote. “The trust brings this lawsuit to protect the voice of Johnny Cash — and to send a message that protects the voice of all of the artists whose music enriches our lives.”
Johnny Cash’s Estate Sues Coca-Cola Under Tennessee’s New ELVIS Act
This marks the first major case to come under Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act (ELVIS) Act, Rolling Stone reports.
The estate of Johnny Cash is suing Coca-Cola for replicating Cash's voice in a new ad campaign without the estate's permission.
— Rob Freund (@RobertFreundLaw) November 26, 2025
Estate alleges that Coca-Cola signed an endorsement deal with Taylor Swift, so it knows that it needs a license to exploit musician personas in ads. pic.twitter.com/mhnIdyI7T5
Signed in March 2024 by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, the ELVIS Act is the nation’s first piece of legislation aimed at safeguarding the core elements of artistic identity, including voice and likeness, in the context of artificial intelligence (AI.)
In the lawsuit, Johnny Cash’s estate claims Coca-Cola “never even bothered to ask the trust for a license” to use the “Ring of Fire” singer’s work in its ad.
[RELATED: When Radio Stations Banned This Controversial Johnny Cash Album, He Called Them “Gutless”]
“This case arises from Coca-Cola’s pirating Johnny Cash’s voice in a nationwide advertising campaign to enrich itself — without asking for permission or providing any compensation to the humble man and artist who created the goodwill from which Coca-Cola now profits,” the complaint reads.
Coca-Cola has not publicly commented on the lawsuit. Cash’s estate is seeking a court injunction that would remove the ad from the air. Additionally, they are asking for with financial damages over alleged violations of Cash’s rights under the ELVIS Act.
Notably, however, the complaint does not allege that Coca-Cola used artificial intelligence in the commercial, which is what legislators crafted the ELVIS Act to protect against.
Featured image by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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