Brooklyn Rapper 2 Milly is Suing ‘Fortnite’ for Using the “Milly Rock” in its Game
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Milly Rocking in front of any judge
On Wednesday (December 5th) Brooklyn rapper 2 Milly filed a lawsuit in California district court accusing Epic Games of copyright infringement.
Epic Games is the company that develops Fortnite: one of the most popular video games in the market (and a game that has made over a billion dollars since its release in 2017.
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In the game, users can purchase an emote called “Swipe It.” 2 Milly is claiming that the emote is the “Milly Rock,” a dance 2 Milly popularized with his 2014 hit of the same name.
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Pitchfork was able to obtain some of the court documents. In the documents, 2 Milly, real name Terrence Ferguson, claims that Epic Games “should not be able to profit from Ferguson’s fame and hard work by its intentional misappropriation of Ferguson’s original content or likeness.”
The documents say the developers also “consistently sought to exploit African-American talent in particular in Fortnite by copying their dances and movements.”
Back in September, Blocboy JB called out Fortnite using his “Shoot” dance.
EveryTime Somebody Does My Dance Dey Give Credit To @FortniteGame But Dey Ain’t Create Nothing But Da Game So Basically Dey Takin Money And Credit For My Shit Dats Crazy
— BlocBoy JB (@BlocBoy_JB) September 10, 2018
This is something that has been brewing up for months. In July, Chance The Rapper called out Fortnite in Twitter.
Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) July 13, 2018
I would love to be able to buy Hype and also be purchasing Look Alive or buy “Swipe” and be buying it from both @FortniteGame AND 2Milly https://t.co/eUgKksJzIY
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) July 13, 2018
Source: Pitchfork