Alfonso Ribeiro Sues Fortnite Over Use of His Signature Fresh Prince Dance, The Carlton

Alfonso Ribeiro. Photo: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank

In some sense, The Carlton belongs to all of us, an integral thread in the vast tapestry that was America in the 1990s. In a different, more specific sense, however, the exuberant dance beloved by everyone under the age of death and over the age of birth is well-known because of one man: actor Alfonso Ribeiro. While playing the nerdy scion to the Banks family, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor invented the now-infamous Carlton. Now, he is suing both Epic Games, creator of the extremely popular Fortnite, and 2K, the company behind the NBA 2K series, for allegedly stealing his dance for use in their video games.

Of course, Ribeiro isn’t the only person who has come forward to accuse Fortnite of lifting his moves for players’ avatars to enjoy as paid in-game add-ons. (If you have the game, check out the “Fresh” emote and compare the dances yourself.) Earlier this month, rapper 2 Milly filed a similar suit accusing Fortnite of using his Milly Rock as the game’s “Swipe It” emote. Interestingly, last month Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence told Vulture Festival L.A. that someone had reached out about potentially using Donald Faison’s “Poison” dance in the game. But as Faison told the audience when encouraged to show off his moves: “If you want to see it, you can play Fortnite, because they jacked that shit!”