Coca-Cola is facing a courtroom showdown with the guardians of Johnny Cash’s legacy, accused of borrowing the legendary baritone without so much as a polite knock on the door.
A lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville claims the soda giant rolled out a college-football-themed commercial featuring a voice that doesn’t just resemble Cash — it practically walks, talks, and sings like the Man in Black himself. The estate says the company hired a tribute singer whose sound was “remarkably” indistinguishable from the real thing, then broadcast the ad during NCAA games starting in August.
According to the complaint, fans on social media immediately began asking the same question: Wait… was that Johnny Cash? And the estate argues that this confusion wasn’t accidental — it was profitable.
The trust insists Coca-Cola leaned on Cash’s iconic voice to juice up its marketing campaign, all without seeking permission or a license. The filing points out a key precedent: a late-80s appellate ruling involving Bette Midler, who successfully challenged a carmaker for using a soundalike when she refused to sing for them.
The Cash estate now wants the ad pulled and is seeking financial damages, leaving the court to decide whether the echo of a famous voice can cross the legal line.
The case is titled John R. Cash Revocable Trust v. Coca-Cola Co., currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
