Will Fortnite be as popular without dancing?

Terrence “2 Milly” Ferguson, a popular New York rapper, is suing Epic Games over the inclusion of a dance in Fortnite. Ferguson alleges that the “Swipe It” emote in Fortnite is an unauthorized copy of the “Milly Rock” dance from his 2014 music video. Fortnite, like many games with a cosmetic element, cashes in on culture by turning memes and pop references into emotes, gestures, and skins. Ferguson is not the first person to complain about the lack of credit or compensation from Epic, but he is probably the most high-profile personality to file papers. “Scrubs” actor Donald Faison similarly accused the studio of swiping his moves as seen in this clip from the show.

Fortnite has drawn ire from many dance creators because of the massive amounts of money involved, as well as the sting of having the dances “appropriated” by the game. For example, many younger Fortnite players call this the “Fortnite Dance” due to it being one of the original emotes, despite it being more properly known as “The Floss” by its creator.

You can copyright “pantomimes and choreographic works” but it’s unclear if the Milly Rock, The Shoot Dance, or any of the other moves used by Epic would qualify under these rules due to the length of the routines.