Why Fortnite Is Accused of Stealing Dance Moves

Fortnite may be the world’s most popular video game, with 200 million players and $1 billion in revenue, but for 2 Milly, it’s just the game that stole his signature dance move. The latest version of Fortnite adapts the Brooklyn rapper’s viral 2015 dance, the Milly Rock, as an “emote” for avatars called Swipe It. “My dance is my signature,” the rapper, born Terrence Ferguson, who sued Epic Games in U.S. District Court, tells Rolling Stone. “Everybody would tell you, from here to Alaska, ‘Hey, that’s the Milly Rock.’ I don’t mind people doing it in their videos. What I do mind is when somebody takes what I created and sells it.”

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The role-playing, zombie-killing game allows avatars to buy a variety of looped, animated dance moves to celebrate victories and taunt opponents. Some of the moves are original to the game, like Flippin’ Sexy, in which a player spins in the air and lands in a come-hither position; others borrow from viral YouTube dances, like Dr. Turk’s goofy dance on TV’s Scrubs and Snoop Dogg’s steering-wheel move in his “Drop It While It’s Hot” video.

Thanks to the move, which involves distinctive arm-swinging and hip-twisting, the “Milly Rock” video went viral on YouTube, racking up more than 18 million views to date; stars from Rihanna to Travis Scott have done it onstage, and NFL players have used it for touchdown dances. “People say, ‘I see people doing your dance in YouTube videos, so you going to sue them?’ It’s like promotion, really — it’s spreading the brand,” 2 Milly says. “But when you actually sell [what] somebody else created, it becomes theft.” Also suing Fortnite this week, claiming it uses their dances without permission: the mother of Russell Horning, also known as the Backpack Kid, who popularized a viral move called the Floss, and Alfonso Ribeiro of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, who is known for the “Carlton dance.” Both are represented by lawyer David L. Hecht, who also filed the suit on behalf of 2 Milly two weeks ago. All three dancers have also sued Take-Two Interactive for allegedly using their moves in NBA 2K18. A rep for Take-Two declined to comment to Rolling Stone on the pending litigation.

But winning a suit over a dance move is not so straightforward — it’s even more challenging than Marvin Gaye’s estate winning its case against Robin Thicke for using portions of “Got to Give It Up” in his smash “Blurred Lines.” “It’s not remotely a slam dunk,” says Christine Lepera, an attorney who represents Drake, Timbaland and others. “You cannot copyright certain dance moves that are generic. From what I’ve seen online, I’ve done these [Milly Rock] moves in hip-hop [dance] class for years — it’s a pivot, heel-out, heel-out, and swing your arms.”

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