‘The Good Place’ Drops a ‘Fortnite’ Reference in “Chidi Sees the Time-Knife”

The Good Place has brought a wide array of pop culture references into its one-of-a-kind world, and it looks like one element of Fortnite can now join that list.

Mild spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Good Place, “Chidi Sees the Time-Knife”, below!

The episode saw Michael (Ted Danson) and company trying to bargain with the Judge (Maya Rudolph), to potentially change the point system that determines where humans go in the afterlife. Michael soon realizes that he’s not getting through to the judge, which prompts him to begin doing the floss dance, which is one of several dance moves regularly associated with Fortnite.

Eleanor (Kristen Bell) begins to ask what Michael is doing, which prompts him to answer “Backpack Kid dance. I don’t know. It makes people happy.” in a confused fashion.

While the moment doesn’t mention Fortnite directly, it ends up being awesome for a couple of different reasons. For one thing, it plays off of a viral video that started going around in November of last year, in which Danson was being taught how to floss by his The Good Place cast-mates. Coincidentally, Danson recently showcased his flossing skills during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he hinted that he’s much more confident in his abilities to do the dance.

And outside of The Good Place, the dance has had a pretty interesting real-life impact on Fortnite. In December of last year, Russell Horning, who is known as the aforementioned “Backpack Kid”, joined a lawsuit against Epic Games for using the dance without his permission. Horning first popularized the dance while performing with Katy Perry on an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2017, and joined The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air‘s Alfonso Ribeiro and rapper 2 Milly in filing complaints against the company.

What do you think about Fortnite being referenced on The Good Place? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The Good Place airs Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.