Epic Games is facing lawsuits over the presence of emotes including the Floss and the Carlton in Fortnite, without credit or compensation going to the people who created or popularized them. And maybe it's coincidence or maybe it's not, but those same dances have now been removed from Forza Horizon 4.
The change comes as part of the Forza Horizon 4 Series 5 update, which makes a number of fairly significant additions to the game including a Mitsubishi Motors car pack, a new free-for-all Adventure and Horizon Story missions, and new seasonal events, cars, and more. But it's the very last entry in the list of smaller changes and fixes in the full patch notes that's of particular interest: "The 'Carlton' and 'Floss' avatar emotes are no longer available."
The Carlton dance was created by Alfonso Ribeiro for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and is "distinctive, immediately recognizable, and inextricably linked to [his] identity, celebrity, and likeness," Riberio said in his December lawsuit. The Floss, created by "Backpack Kid" Russell Horning, came to mainstream attention when Rihanna shared it on her YouTube channel; he was invited to performance the dance on Saturday Night Live in 2017 as part of Kay Perry's musical performance. He (technically, his mom) sued Epic at roughly the same time as Ribeiro.
The patch notes don't say why the emotes were removed, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to guess that Microsoft is hoping to avoid the headaches currently plaguing Epic, or may have pulled the content as part of a quiet settlement with their originators. I've contacted Microsoft for more information, and will update if I receive a reply. And in case you missed it, Epic was recently hit with a new Fortnite dance lawsuit, this one courtesy of Rachel McCumbers, now known to the internet as Orange Shirt Kid's mom.
