Fresh Prince Star Alfonso Ribeiro Accuses Fortnite Creators of Stealing His 'Carlton' Dance
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air star Alfonso Ribeiro is suing Epic Games for allegedly using his signature “Carlton” dance without permission in Fortnite.
Ribeiro, 47, claims the quirky move, which made his character Carlton Banks quite popular, can be seen on Fortnite under the emote “Fresh.”
The emote, which is described as “expressing yourself on the battlefield,” shows the player exhibiting a similar dance to Carlton’s dance, which includes arm waving and gyrating hips.
“It is widely recognized that Mr. Ribeiro’s likeness and intellectual property have been misappropriated by Epic Games in the most popular video game currently in the world, Fortnite,” Ribeiro’s lawyer David L. Hecht tells PEOPLE in a statement.
“Epic has earned record profits off of downloadable content in the game, including emotes like ‘Fresh.’ Yet Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr. Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property.”
“Therefore, Mr. Ribeiro is seeking his fair and reasonable share of profits Epic has earned by use of his iconic intellectual property in Fortnite and as a result is requesting through the courts that Epic cease all use of Mr. Ribeiro’s signature dance,” the statement concluded.
Ribeiro declined to comment further about the suit.
A representative for Epic Games did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Interestingly, Ribeiro isn’t the only celebrity to take legal action against the company.
Earlier this month, rapper 2 Milly filed a suit against Epic games, claiming the “Milly Rock” dance he created for his 2014 music video was used in Fortnite under the emote “Swipe It,” Variety and TMZ reported.
He also filed a suit against Take-Two Interactive for allegedly using the “Milly Rock” in NBA 2K.
Fortnite, which was released in 2017 is a cooperative shooter-survival game, in which players are forced to fight off zombies and other creatures with fortifications they can build.
