For the second time in our weird Fortnite history, a mother is suing Epic Games for the rights of one of its dances. Her son, she claims, is the original inventor of the swaggy moves. As such, the family should get revenue every time someone uses it on the game.
Ok, so, we all know 2018’s, and now 2019’s dances are both awesome and weird. Mostly, I’m talking about how we dance trap music. Or, at least, try to.
Have you ever seen this dance? Have you ever done it?
Well, I know I have. The dance comes from the human-meme know as the “Weird Orange Shirt Kid.” A random YouTube account posted the video back on April 2018 and, very soon, the dance became known as “Orange Justice Dance.”
Players convinced Fortnite to add the Orange Justice Dance into the game, and now the studio is facing a sue over its inclusion.
Dance moves in Fortnite
Probably one of the reasons as to why Fortnite is so popular amongs young audiences is becasue how it embraces meme culture.
Epic Games has taken viral dance moves and added them into the game, a testament on how they see their players: young, avid consumers of viral online content.
The “Orange Shirt Kid” is particularly odd because of how the dance got into the shooter.
First, the Orange Justice participated in Epic Game’s BoogieDown contest. The BoogieDown calls all players to send their best dances to the studio, so they can decide which ones they’ll turn into an emoji.
Here’s is 2018’s winner:
Orange Justice didn’t cut the last edition of the contest. Then, a mass o players took Change.org to petition Epic Games to include the dance into the game. Eventually, the fans got what they wanted.
Also, the contest rules explain players won’t get paid for the use of their dance moves. Players are not selling their moves. Instead, they are giving them away as a contribution to the community.
Then, players can unlock new dance moves through free battle passes, not by purchasing it.
And lastly, getting copyrights on a dance move is practically impossible. Unless you’re Michael Jackson, which you are not.
The second mother suing Fortnite
Nevertheless, mothers still try to get some money out of their son’s quirkiness. The Orange Shirt Kid mother filed a lawsuit last week where she doesn’t mention the BoogieDown contest.
She doesn’t mention her son’s tweets -now deleted- in which he submitted his dance moves and later celebrates Epic Games for including his moves into the game.
Instead, the child’s mom, Rachel MacCumbers, says Orange Shirt Kid “exploded in popularity” early 2018 after he made the Random Dance video.
The lawsuit claims the name of the dance is “The Random,” however people may call it “Orange Justice.”
The firm company handling the lawsuit is Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP. The company also handles other complaints against EpicGames.
The most prominent one comes from mother of the overnight Instagram celebrity, Backpad Kid, for adding his popular dance “The Floss” into Fortnite.
