--- title: Katy Perry Sued by Christian Rappers Over Dark Horse description: The four musicians claim the pop star stole the song canonical: https://time.com/2955390/katy-perry-dark-horse-lawsuit/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-03T23:52:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:58:39.657Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Katy Perry Sued by Christian Rappers Over Dark Horse og:description: The four musicians claim the pop star stole the song og:url: https://time.com/2955390/katy-perry-dark-horse-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd107cda50abc94d4/69869a8fcd68487895095898/451179428.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Katy Perry "The Prismatic World Tour" - Washington D.C. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Katy Perry Sued by Christian Rappers Over Dark Horse twitter:description: The four musicians claim the pop star stole the song twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd107cda50abc94d4/69869a8fcd68487895095898/451179428.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christian Rappers Sue Katy Perry Over 'Dark Horse'  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 3, 2014 11:52 PM UTC  Katy Perry performs onstage during "The Prismatic World Tour" at the Verizon Center on June 24, 2014, in Washington, D.C. Katy Perry performs onstage during "The Prismatic World Tour" at the Verizon Center on June 24, 2014, in Washington, D.C.Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 3, 2014 11:52 PM UTC A group of Christian musicians are [suing Katy Perry](http://dockets.justia.com/docket/missouri/moedce/4:2014cv01183/134552) for copyright infringement, claiming her hit “Dark Horse” replicated their 2008 song “Joyful Noise.” The four plaintiffs added that their song has been sullied by “witchcraft, paganism, black magic and Illuminati imagery,” according to the [complaint filed on July 1](http://dockets.justia.com/docket/missouri/moedce/4:2014cv01183/134552) in St. Louis. Rappers Marcus Gray, Emanuel Lambert, Lecrae Moore and producer Chike Ojukwu are seeking damages from Katy Perry, Juicy J, Lukasz Gottwald, Sarah Theresa Hudson, Max Martin, Henry Russell Walter and Capitol Records. This isn’t the first time Perry has come under fire for allegedly copying a song: last year critics pointed out similarities between her song “Roar” and Sara Bareilles’ song “Brave.” Here are “Dark Horse” and “Joyful Noise” below, so you can decide for yourself. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2955390/katy-perry-dark-horse-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2955390/katy-perry-dark-horse-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Christian Rappers Sue Katy Perry Over 'Dark Horse'","datePublished":"2014-07-03T23:52:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:58:39.657Z","description":"The four musicians claim the pop star stole the song","url":"https://time.com/2955390/katy-perry-dark-horse-lawsuit/","keywords":["Music","Katy Perry"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd107cda50abc94d4/69869a8fcd68487895095898/451179428.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd107cda50abc94d4/69869a8fcd68487895095898/451179428.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Katy Perry \"The Prismatic World Tour\" - Washington D.C.","caption":"Katy Perry \"The Prismatic World Tour\" - Washington D.C.","creditText":"Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2955390/katy-perry-dark-horse-lawsuit/","name":"Christian Rappers Sue Katy Perry Over 'Dark Horse'"}}]}] ```