5 people who tried to sue Fortnite for using emotes but failed

Fortnite has managed to stay in the limelight for the right reasons. However, it has also faced controversies over the years. The most popular debacle would be the epic standoff between Epic Games and Apple that went on for several months.

Apart from the lawsuit mentioned above, there have been several issues where Fortnite was blamed for copyright issues. Most of the time, however, the gaming franchise came out clean.

Controversies regarding emotes have also come up in the past. Several people have accused Fortnite of stealing their moves for the emotes. They did try to sue the game for this reason. However, every effort went in vain, and charges were dropped against Epic Games.

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Who sued Fortnite for emotes?

5) Orange Shirt Kid

The Orange Shirt Kid shot to fame due to Epic's BoogieDown Contest, in which he performed quite a unique dance move. Even though he failed to grab the winner's position, the entire community supported having his dance move added to Fortnite.

Eventually, the dance was added as the Orange Justice emote. However, the kid and his family decided to sue the game for unauthorized use of the dance move.

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4) 2 Milly

Fortnite's Swipe It emote was highly similar to the Milly Rock dance from rapper 2 Milly. The uncanny similarity between the two compelled the artist to file a lawsuit against the developers.

The charges were dropped as soon as it was clarified that an artist could not claim copyright unless the move reached the level of choreography.

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3) Leo Pellegrino

The performer did not restrain to sue Epic Games for allegedly copying his performance and adding it in the game as an emote. The matter of concern is regarding the Phone It In emote.

In this emote, the character plays a saxophone and dances to the tune. Since there was no direct evidence of the accusation, the performer dropped the lawsuit.

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2) Alfonso Ribeiro

A lot of gamers will remember The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. On the show, actor Alfonso Ribeiro created the legendary Carlton dance. The moves were trendy among the masses.

Epic Games added the Fresh emote, which similarly demonstrated the character dancing to Carlton. Eventually, a lawsuit was filed by the actor. Although it was speculated that the case would find the developers guilty of the charges, the matter was dropped by Alfonso Ribeiro without providing any reason.

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1) Russel Horning

The Backpack Kid, aka Russel Horning, who went viral for his iconic dance moves, also sued Epic for the same reason. The developers copied the kid's moves and released them as the Floss emote in the game.

Although the emote is extremely popular among gamers, it received the threat of being taken down due to the lawsuit. However, it was stated that Russel Horning does not hold the dance's copyright, so the charges had to be dropped.