Fortnite Removes NSFW Emote Before Ariana Grande Rift Tour Event

Epic Games removed one of Fortnite’s newest emotes ahead of the game’s big Ariana Grande Rift Tour event due to some NSFW implications the emote allowed for. The emote in question was the “Bear Hug” animation, and when it works properly, it allows players to embrace one another for a brief moment. Some players found a way to create an unintentional result, however, so Epic Games has disabled it temporarily while the issue is looked into.

Though the official Fortnite Twitter account didn’t make a big to-do about the emote’s removal, the Fortnite Status Twitter account at least shared news of it being disabled. The initial tweet said it’d been removed and that players would be notified when it was back up and available, but a few hours later when it was still absent, the account followed up to say that it’ll remain disabled for a while longer. Those who purchased the emote will be given a refund next week as compensation.

Despite Epic Games’ vagueness about the matter, Fortnite players were more than happy to show what the issue was. Tweets like the one below showed that players could apparently use the emote when crouched in certain circumstances. Both players crouching and using the emote still led to the intended bear hug happening a bit lower than a standing animation, but if only one player embraced the other, it led to an animation that certainly looked unintentional.

Epic Games isn’t really in the business of crafting inappropriate emotes, so the above wouldn’t stand under normal conditions, but this discovery came at an especially poor time considering an Ariana Grande skin was just added to the game. It makes sense then that the emote was removed so promptly and kept out of the game ahead of the first show from the Rift Tour event.

If you want to catch the event yourself, sans Bear Hug emote, you can do so by tuning into one of the shows planned over the next few days. Our how-to-watch guide can help you with that.