In 1994, Disney released their iconic franchise, “The Lion King.” And while the film may be a cult classic for all the 90’s and early 2000s kids who grew up watching it, we’re just now learning the truth behind one of its most notable songs—and trust us when we say, it’s one of the funniest things you’ll see all year.
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As you well know by now, in one of the most famous opening scenes ever, “The Lion King” starts off with cub Simba being introduced to the entire pride lands by Rafkiki, the baboon shaman-like advisor to King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi. As the sun rises on the African plain and all the animals gather, a memorable African chant can be heard in the background. While the language was Zulu and many of us never knew exactly what was being said, we knew that whatever it was matched the majestic vibe of the moment.
However, fast forward to 2026, and comedian Learnmore Jonasi is now attempting to bring some knowledge to the masses about the beloved song. Sitting down for a new interview with fellow comedians Godfrey and Akbar Gbajabiamila for their “One54 Podcast”, Jonasi—who speaks Zulu, the language being sung in the song—finally broke down what exactly was being chanted.
“It means ‘Look, there’s a lion. Oh my god’…that’s exactly what it means. ‘Look, there’s a lion. Oh my god…They made billions off of ‘it’s a lion over there,’” Jonasi said.
He later pointed out the difference between that song and “Hakuna Matata,” which is a Swahili phrase.
Upon further research, the phrase for “Circle of Life” in its entirety is: “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama.” Per music station Classic FM, another translation of that reads: “Here comes a lion, father. Oh yes, it’s a lion.” A quick AI translation search echoed a similar sentence.
No matter how you put it, that’s still a lot of letters and words just to say there’s a lion, we can’t lie. And we also can’t minimize the incredulity we feel after finally getting answers after all these years. Who knew that deeply, spiritual-sounding phrase had such a simple translation?
Naturally, once Jonasi’s explanation hit the internet, many “Lion King” fans were taken aback at the revelation.
“This Man ain’t bout to destroy my childhood with all of this accuracy! I love The Lion King, and that’s that!” said one user on YouTube.
“Disney better COUNT THEIR DAYS!!” said another on Instagram.
“It felt way deeper than that lol no way,” one other user wrote.
Added another: “Hey, at least they allowed us to all believe it was something powerful, meanwhile, they were definitely laughing at us.”
One user, however, didn’t seem phased at all by this new info and proclaimed: “Imma still sang it the way I been sanging it.”
Peep the hilarious explanation below.
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