Rapper 2 Milly considers legal action against Epic over Fortnite dance emote

News
By published

Swipe It.

Rapper 2 Milly hopes to sue Epic Games over Fortnite's 'Swipe It' emote, which is based on his Milly Rock dance.

"They actually sell that particular move. It's for purchase. That's when I really was like...oh nah, this can't go on too long," he told CBS.

Swipe It was one of the emotes available to unlock as part of the paid-for Battle Pass in Fortnite Season 5, which ended in September. You can no longer unlock it but players can still use it in-game.

The emote is one of many based on real-life dance moves by hip hop artists, as Vikki outlined here. 2 Milly says he doesn't want to "bash [Epic] for all the millions. It's not really like that. I just feel like I have to protect what's mine."

As to whether legal action from 2 Milly would be successful, it's hard to say. He's venturing into uncharted territory, according to business and entertainment lawyer Merlyne Jean-Louis, who CBS quotes in its report. "There's a lot of case lawsuits surrounding the copyright of music. Lyrics. Sounds. There's a full body of case law related to that. But regarding choreographic works, that does not exist,"

In July, Chance the Rapper said that Epic should at least play the songs that inspire the emotes when players use them.

In case you missed it, Fortnite won Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards this week.

Samuel Horti
Samuel Horti

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.