Rauw Alejandro’s Choreographer Sues Epic Games, Says Fortnite Stole His Music Video Dance Moves

A dancer who’s worked with Usher, Jennifer Lopez and Selena Gomez is suing Fortnite maker Epic Games over allegations that the game stole his choreography from a recent Rauw Alejandro music video.

In a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court, Fefe Burgos says Epic ripped off his copyright-protected moves from Alejandro’s “Touching The Sky” video and then sold them to Fortnite’s millions of players as add-ons within the popular online video game.

“Epic has unfairly profited from exploiting Burgos’s registered choreography,” writes Burgos’ lawyer David L. Hecht. “Defendants capitalized on the registered choreography’s popularity, particularly with Burgos’s younger fans, by selling [it] as an in-game purchase.”

Burgos – who says he’s also choreographed Chris Brown and Timbaland — claims that Epic pulls in billions in revenue “exclusively through these types of in-game purchases” in Fortnite – and that some of that money ought to go to the dance’s creator.

“Epic should not be able to profit from Burgos’s fame and hard work,” Burgos’ lawyers write. “Despite all that money, Epic is unwilling to pay artists and creators like Burgos their fair share for blatantly using their intellectual property.”

A spokesperson for Epic did not immediately return a request for comment. Alejandro is not involved in the lawsuit on either side.

The case is just the latest over viral dance moves featured in online video games. Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, sued Epic in 2018 over the use of his heavily-memed “Carlton dance; Russell Horning, the mother of the so-called Backpack Kid who helped popularize the viral “Floss” dance, later did the same. In April, a TikTok user who says she created the viral “Apple dance” to a Charli XCX song sued Roblox for selling it.

For years such cases faced skeptical judges, who questioned whether simple dance moves were even covered by copyright law in the first place. But in 2023, a federal appeals court issued a first-of-its-kind ruling reviving such a lawsuit against Epic, saying there was “see no reason to treat choreography differently” from longer dance routines.

In Wednesday’s new lawsuit, Burgos is represented by the same lawyers that won that 2023 ruling. They say Epic stole the central move from Alejandro’s 2024 “Touching The Sky,” a platinum-certified hit that reached the top of Billboard’s US Latin Pop Airplay chart. In the video, the Latin superstar can be seen performing the move as he dances across a number of New York City locations.

Less than a year after the video was released, Burgos says Epic began offering players an emote – a pre-programmed dance that players can buy – under the name “Touching The Sky.” If purchased, Burgos says the add-on allowed Fortnite players to perform identical moves from Alejandro’s video: “Epic’s brazen infringement of the registered choreography is undeniable.”