'Eye of the Tiger' writer protests anti-gay clerk

The songwriter behind "Eye of the Tiger" has protested after a US county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples emerged from jail to the 1982 hit.

Frankie Sullivan, the guitarist and main songwriter from Chicago band Survivor, said he did not give Rowan County, Kentucky, official Kim Davis permission to use the song.

"I would not grant her the rights to use Charmin!" Sullivan wrote on Facebook, referring to a brand of toilet paper.

He also complained about presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's appearance at Tuesday's rally with Davis, saying that the former Arkansas governor should "do better" than frontrunner contender Donald Trump, a blunt-spoken billionaire.

Davis, a born-again Christian, was jailed last week for contempt of court after she refused to issue licenses despite a Supreme Court ruling that declared marriage a constitutional right for same-sex couples.

Written by Survivor for a film of the "Rocky" boxer franchise, "Eye of the Tiger" was also used in 2012 by Republican candidate Newt Gingrich until Sullivan filed suit.

US politicians, especially on the right, have frequently struggled to find songs by sympathetic musicians.

In the latest Republican presidential race, left-leaning artists Neil Young and the Dropkick Murphys have voiced outrage over use of their songs by Trump and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker respectively.

However, Dee Snider, the frontman of heavy metal band Twisted Sister, recently gave his blessing for Trump to use the band's angst-ridden 1984 hit "We're Not Gonna Take It."