FortniteThe newest emote in the game is collaborative. Epic Games announced the release of “The Renegade” tonight, the viral TikTok dance created by Atlanta teenager Jalaiah Harmon. The Twitter account for Fortnite openly quotes Harmon and writes: “Go, go, go, go, come on, come on and get some [fire] is moved by @jalaiah. ”
It’s unclear whether Epic and Harmon struck any kind of licensing deal, but it’s a possibility considering the developer’s rocky legal record with dance gestures. Throughout FortniteThe meteoric rise that started in the fall of 2017, the game has featured a series of real-world dances copied from pop culture. Emoticons were sometimes inspired by dances on old TV shows, such as the default dance inspired by Scrubs Actor Donald Faison. But often these dances were invented by black creators and then went viral on social media.
A series of lawsuits were filed against Epic over claims the company infringed on some variety of likeness or copyright by using the dances without permission, with some still ongoing. Anyway, in this case, it seems like Epic is openly quoting the creator of the dance that emulates his newest emoticon, and it would be pretty strange to do it without first collaborating with Harmon to get him in the game.
It seems that Epic is no longer interested in taking existing dances and turning them into emoticons without credit, as was their strategy in the past for some popular dances. The company held a TikTok dance contest earlier this year with transparent license terms and has turned popular streamer dance moves into emoticons with the permission and collaboration of the creators themselves. Popular streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins obtained his own mask, emoticon, and other in-game items as part of a deal with Epic in January.
The inclusion of the Renegade emoticon is also a good gesture for Harmon, who was largely unrecognized for his dancing, even as he became one of the most popular moves on TikTok and other social platforms earlier this year. Only after articles from publications like The New York Times and Vox Harmon got proper credit for his massively influential contribution to pop culture? And now Harmon will be forever immortalized in the world of Fortnite
