Forza Horizon 4 removes two dance emotes at the heart of lawsuits

The ‘Carlton’ and ‘Floss’ get pulled from the Xbox One and PC racing game.

© Playground Games/Microsoft Studios

By Michael McWhertor, Polygon

Forza Horizon 4 developer Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios released an update for their racing game today, adding seven new cars from manufacturer Mitsubishi, a new story about driving taxis, and much more. 

Today’s update also removed two dance emotes from the game — animations that are at the heart of ongoing lawsuits.

Those emotes, named the Carlton and Floss in Forza Horizon 4, are no longer in the racing game as of this week, according to the franchise’s official website. We reached out to Microsoft for comment on the removal of those emotes, but it’s worth noting that both of those dances are at the center of litigation for Fortnite developer Epic Games. 

Alfonso Ribeiro, who starred as Carlton Banks in the ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, sued Epic in December of its use of “The Carlton” dance in Fortnite. Shortly after, Russell “Backpack Kid” Horning went after Epic for using the Flossing dance that he made famous.

Forza Horizon 4 features an array of emotes and dance moves that players can unlock for their custom avatar. Those animations included the Carlton and Floss, as well as other dances drawn from other pop culture moments: Drake’s “Hotline Bling” dance, a Michael Jackson-inspired moon walk known in-game as the Shamone, and the Macarena.

The Carlton, as seen in YOISYgaming’s compilation video of Forza Horizon 4 emotes.

 

While Epic Games has made headlines for the growing number of lawsuits being filed by dance creators, it’s not the only game maker being targeted. Take-Two Interactive, parent company of NBA 2K publisher 2K Games, is also being sued by Alfonso Ribeiro and rapper 2 Milly (aka Terrence Ferguson) over emotes featured in the basketball sim that they say are based on their dances.