Fortnite’s Swipe It emote could spark a legal battle between rapper 2 Milly and Epic Games.
Fortnite’s Swipe It emote could spark a legal battle between rapper 2 Milly and Epic Games.
Epic Games takes its inspiration for Fortnite’s emotes from all over the place, including pop culture, other video games, and even its fans. But rapper 2 Milly has told CBS that he plans to pursue legal action following the use of his Milly Rock dance as one of Season 5’s emotes.
The emote, called Swipe It, could be unlocked at Tier 63 of Season 5’s Battle Pass which cost $9.50, and players could then buy it outright.
“Everybody was just like, ‘Yo, your dance is in the game,” 2 Milly said. “They actually sell that particular move. It’s for purchase. That’s when I really was like… oh nah, this can’t go on too long.”
Business and entertainment lawyer Merlyne Jean-Louis commented that “There’s a lot of case lawsuits surrounding the copyright of music. Lyrics. Sounds. There’s a full body of case law related to that. But regarding choreographic works, that does not exist”
Earlier this year, Kotaku reported that Chance the Rapper had tweeted about Epic’s use of existing dances as emotes.
“Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them,” Chance tweeted at the time.
2 Milly actually responded to the use of his dance in the game at the time, saying, “I do feel like Chance was very correct in what he said and that if you would have incorporated the song along with the dance title ‘MillyRock’ in Fortnite instead of not using the record and changing the name to the ‘swipe it’ stealing away from my artwork then I’d might be ok with it if we worked out some type of agreement.
“I do take it as a Very big deal I just wish [Epic] would have reached out with a payout and a contract being that I am solely the creator of the Dance And Song MillyRock… I don’t feel it’s appropriate that my art (dance) which is a big part of culture is basically stolen.”
The rapper told Kotaku that he was consulting his lawyers in order to pursue compensation for a “fair amount” for his “addition to the game.”
Talking to CBS, 2 Milly said, “I don’t even want to bash them for all the millions. Know what I am saying? It’s not really like that. I just feel like I have to protect what’s mine.”
Meanwihle in-game, Week 8 Challenges are live, and you can read up on how to earn XP and Battle Stars right here .
