In July, Electronic Arts removed the name of Washington's National Football League team from Madden NFL 21 (opens in new tab), after the team announced that it would finally change its name to something that isn't a racist slur. Now, according to Fortnite Intel (opens in new tab), Epic Games is following EA's lead by removing the name from the NFL skins in Fortnite.
The eight NFL skins—Rush, Juke, Interceptor, Blitz, Strong Guard, Spike, Gridiron, and End Zone—were introduced to Fortnite in 2018 in the Fourth Down Set, well before Washington ownership decided to make the change. Following this update, the colors are still in place, but the name and logo are gone.
Slight Update: This refers to all NFL skins, the reasoning appears to be due to the team "Redskins" renaming themselves to "Washington Football Team" due to the old name being "racially insensitive moniker"October 13, 2020
An in-game message announcing the change says players who are unhappy with it have until November 12 to request a refund, which will not require the use of a refund token. As explained on Epic's support site, all Fortnite players have three "refund tokens" which enables them to claim refunds on any eligible items purchased in the game within 30 days, and without question. But only three—and once they're gone, you get no more, so naturally most players are going to be very selective about picking their shots.
To request a refund, go to your profile page in the Fortnite settings, and then enter Lifetime Return Requests. The "Submit a Request" option should show the NFL skins as eligible for a refund, but if the button is greyed out you may need to either play a game, or enter and leave Creative Mode, to get the wheels turning.
I've reached out to Epic for comment on the change, and will update if I receive a reply. For the record, Washington's NFL team still doesn't have a new name: It's currently called Washington Football Team (opens in new tab), and its logo is a big "W."
Thanks, Polygon (opens in new tab).
