Quick question, what was the most famous dance of the ’90s? If you said ‘the Macarena’, you’re close, but way off. Rather, we were looking for the ‘Carlton dance’, first performed by Alfonso Ribeiro on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. Now, it’s at the centre of a US lawsuit.
Back in the early ’90s, the world of pop culture became all the richer when Alfonso Ribeiro’s character of Carlton Banks debuted his signature dance. Often accompanied by the sultry sounds of Tom Jones’ ‘It’s Not Unusual’, the dance is iconic for its wild, energetic, and comical nature.
In fact, it’s become so iconic that it’s practically synonymous with Riberiro’s name and likeness. That, he explains, is why he’s a little bit peeved with the creators of Fortnite.
As TMZ reports, Alfonso Riberio has launched a lawsuit in US court, accusing Epic Games – the creators of Fortnite – for using his famed dance without permission.
Check out Fortnite’s ‘Fresh Emote’:
Debuting earlier this year, characters in Fortnite have the ability to perform a dance called the ‘Fresh emote’, which happens to be a replica of Riberiro’s famed moves.
“It is widely recognised 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,” explained a spokesperson for Riberio.
“Epic has earned record profits off of downloadable content in the game, including emotes like Fresh,” they continued. “Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property.”
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“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.”
Alfonso Ribeiro’s lawyers revealed he is in the process of copyrighting the Carlton dance, while also launching “similar claims” against Take Two Interactive and Visual Concepts, the developers of NBA 2K.
Check out Alfonso Ribeiro’s Carlton dance in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air:
