Earlier today, the Inquisitr reported that the cast of Scrubs got together for a reunion. One interesting piece of information that came from the panel — aside from the cast not being particularly interested in a reunion — is the claim that Epic Games “jacked” Donald Faison’s “Poison” dance for an emote in the popular video game Fortnite , as reported by IGN .
During the panel, a fan asked Faison to perform the dance, and in spite of his fellow Scrubs cast members egging him on, he refused. He said “If you want to see it, go play Fortnite because they jacked that s**t.”
According to Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, the dance was taken from a screen capture, so it literally is the exact same dance as the one performed by Faison in the show. Lawrence also pointed out that Epic Games had reached out to them regarding the legality of using the dance in the video game.
For those interested in just how close the two dances line up, YouTuber A_Rival Planetskill put the two side-by-side, and they are frame-by-frame identical.
Faison joked about not receiving any money for the dance’s sale. He said, “Somebody stole that s***, and it’s not mine no more.”
Lawrence joked that the money all went to him. “I knew that Donald would be cool with me getting the money for that.”
While Faison’s outrage definitely seems to be in jest, there have been cases of celebrities becoming legitimately upset over their famous dances being turned into emotes in the game. Epic sells said emote for real money, and it doesn’t seem like any of the original performers are receiving compensation for their dances being used in the game.
According to a report from Forbes , “it is possible to copyright a dance, but not an individual dance move… From a legal standpoint, the matter ostensibly stands in Fortnite’s favor.” Whether it’s ethically right for Epic to profit from the dances invented by others is another matter entirely.
Rapper 2 Milly told CBS News that he wasn’t happy about his “Milly Rock” dance being included in the game, doled out via paid microtransactions. He said, “They actually sell that particular move. It’s for purchase,” 2 Milly explained. “That’s when I really was like… oh nah, this can’t go on too long.”
Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) July 13, 2018
Chance the Rapper also spoke out on the matter on Twitter. He said that Epic should “put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes.”
Fortnite has seen wild levels of success since its “Battle Royale” mode launched in September of 2017.