Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks on the popular ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, has sued Epic Games for using a dance he created for the TV show. Ribeiro’s dance lawsuit follows in the wake of rapper 2 Milly’s lawsuit aimed at the Fortnite developer. A good portion of the dance emotes in the game are nearly identical to a number of famous dances.
TMZ reports that Ribeiro filed a suit against Epic Games for ripping off the dance his character performed on Fresh Prince. The dance, which was also in Uncharted 4, has become known as “The Carlton” and gained popularity when Ribeiro’s Carlton Banks character performed it to Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual.” A nearly identical dance appeared in Fortnite where it is an emote known as “Fresh.” David Hecht, Ribeiro’s attorney, gave a statement.
“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,” he said. “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.”
An update on TMZ’s story says that Ribeiro and 2 Milly have both also sued 2K Games for adding nearly identical dances to NBA 2K19. Rapper 2 Milly‘s “Milly Rock” was appropriated by Epic for Fortnite, which led him to sue the company earlier this month. 2 Milly had been openly discussing suing Epic for some time before filing the suit.
Scrubs star Donald Faison was also burned by Fortnite, which uses his iconic “Poison” dance as the default emote in game. A cast reunion held at the Vulture Festival in Los Angeles saw Faison asked to perform the dance. In response he said that if players “want to see it, [they] can play Fortnite because they jacked that shit.” It’s unclear whether Faison will pursue a lawsuit against Epic Games.
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Image: Craig Sjodin/ABC
