Fortnite Is Reportedly Getting Sued Again By Two More Celebrities
Happy Wednesday, “Fortnite” fans. Unfortunately, we’ve got some more bad, legal news for your favorite video game today. It turns out that another two celebrities have step up to the plate with a lawsuit against Fortnite for selling their dance moves on their platform! We previously told you guys that rapper 2 Milly filed his lawsuit for Fortnite selling his “Milly Rock” dance aka “Swipe It” without his consent.
Now, according to a new report from the folks over at USA Today, former “Fresh Prince Of Bel Air” Carlton Banks star Alfonso Ribeiro and Russell Horning who is known as The Backpack Kid are jumping in the mix with their lawsuits. We’ll start with the Alfonso Ribeiro’s lawsuit first. Alfonso is suing Epic Games for selling his dance moves on Fortnite. His dance emote is called, “Fresh” in the game. They’re using a dance that he made popular on the “Fresh Prince Of Bel Air” TV show back in the 1990’s.
The folks over at Techcrunch.com provided the full lawsuit complaint from Alfonso’s lawyer. Alfonso’s lawsuit claims that Epic Games has misappropriated Alfonso’s likeness and intellectual property. It also mentioned that Epic’s Fortnite game has earned a ton of cash off of Alfonso’s dance.
Here’s what the statement says verbatum: “It is widely recognized that Mr. Ribeiro’s likeness and intellectual property have been misappropriated by Epic Games in the most popular video game currently in the world, Fortnite. Epic has earned record profits off of downloadable content in the game, including emotes like “Fresh.”
Yet Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr. Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property. Therefore, Mr. Ribeiro is seeking his fair and reasonable share of profits Epic has earned by use of his iconic intellectual property in Fortnite and as a result is requesting through the courts that Epic cease all use of Mr. Ribeiro’s signature dance.”
Techcrunch went on to point out that Alfonso is being represented in court by Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP.
This isn’t the only lawsuit that Alfonso has filed. It’s also reported that he’s filed a lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive over use of his dance in the video game “NBA 2K16.”
Next up is the Russel Horning aka The Backpack Kid lawsuit. He’s reportedly filing a lawsuit against both Epic Games and Take-Two Interactive just like Alfonso Ribeiro. He’s claiming his “The Floss” dance emote was stolen by both Fortnite, “NBA 2K18” and “NBA 2K19.”
According too the folks over at Polygon.com , Russel’s flossing dance became very popular when his Instagram posts of him doing the dance became a viral sensation. He started getting invited to numerous events and performances for his signature dance move.
Polygon also pointed out a very interesting fact. Russel, Alfonso and 2 Milly are all being represented by the same law firm to sue Fortnite over these dances. It’s starting to make me think is this the only law firm that will take their case? Or were they just the most convenient one?
It’s pointed out that Alfonso, Russel and 2 Milly currently do not even own the copyrights to these dance moves, but they have filed for it. Another interesting fact is that Russel has actually participated at Epic sanctioned events in the past in relation to Fortnite. He played in the game’s E3 Pro-Am event back in June 2018.
At that time, TMZ reporters asked Russel if he thought he should get anything from having his dance in the game. His answer was, “It’s not that big of a deal. I’m just glad it’s in the game.” So, that sounds very shady. It really seems like he didn’t have a problem with it until he found out how much money Epic Games was raking in off his dance. It’s just all about the money. Once people smell green, it’s on.
It’s reported that the Fortnite dance emotes have generated major revenue for Epic Games to the tune of at least a whopping $1.2 billion dollars on V-Bucks which is the currency that’s used in Fortnite to purchase the dance moves. So, that is indeed some serious amounts of cash flow. No wonder these thirsty celebrities are filing lawsuits. It’s not hard to see they just want a piece of that cash flow action.
How do you guys feel about Fortnite getting sued by two more celebrities over their dance emotes? Let us know in the Facebook comments and stay tuned. Be sure to follow us on our Fortnite Video Game News Facebook page for more Fortnite Video Game news, tips and more by Clicking Here.
