Epic Games has disabled Fortnite’s Peaceful Hips emote – which was inspired by Peacemaker – after the latest episode of the series recast its choreography with problematic subliminal messaging.
The move illustrates just how quickly a licensed wink can devolve into a moderation headache when a TV plot twist comes to light.
Why the Peacemaker emote vanished from Fortnite
This weekend, Fortnite support channels on X informed players that the Peaceful Hips emote was being disabled while its creator, Epic, looked into the creative intent behind the collaboration. The studio also mentioned that refunds will be given if the emote does not come back, which is a normal policy when content gets yanked for reasons beyond player control.
The emote was added to the Item Shop earlier this month as part of a ‘Peacemaker’ bundle and mimicked a distinctive arm manoeuvre from the show’s opening sequence. That animation initially appeared benign, but a new episode changed that in a manner Epic thought not appropriate for the game’s young audience.
What the latest Peacemaker episode revealed on Max
In Max’s latest Peacemaker episode, the story has uncovered a parallel world in which Nazi Germany won — and what had seemed playfully choreographed until now takes on a new light.
With that context, a bent-arm cabalistic motif in the dance is decipherable as an allusion to a swastika shape — a symbol of hate that entertainment companies go out of their way not to normalize.
Charissa Barton, the show’s choreographer, suggested in interviews that there was a story embedded in the intro of Season 2. That creative decision functions as a little puzzle within the narrative of an adult TV show, but when that exact movement is plugged into a global game in which moves are frequently copied by young fans and shared endlessly across social platforms, problems arise.
Epic’s tightrope with licensed content in Fortnite
Fortnite lives by crossovers, and with hundreds of millions of registered accounts and a Teen ESRB rating, Epic’s bar for what it considers acceptable content is higher than for premium TV. The company regularly pulls cosmetics from the game for context and silhouette clarity; it has temporarily pulled emotes before — such as leashing Bear Hug in 2021 because of an awkward animation bug — and routinely cycles out or removes licensed items when rights, even potential rights, or sensitivities reframe.
Brand safety experts said that cross-media tie-ins can turn bad if a partner’s story changes after an in-game release. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media and policies set by platforms always warn against content that can be perceived as relating to extremist imagery, no matter how indirectly. The safest course in live-service games would be to remove the feature as quickly as possible and offer refunds — exactly what Epic seems to be doing.
What players are experiencing in the game right now
As of today, Peaceful Hips is no longer working. Players who bought it will have the item either greyed out or removed from their locker until Epic is done with its review. The other Peacemaker cosmetics, which do not have the controversial motion, can still be used by current owners, while the full set was removed from the Item Shop.
Refunds for the disabled emote are believed to be automatic. In the past, when Epic removes an item for policy reasons, affected accounts are refunded V-Bucks without needing to use a refund token — a system the company contrasts with its self-service returns for buyer’s remorse.
The bigger takeaway here for crossovers and brands
This incident underscores a new problem for just such transmedia collaborations: storylines progress, but a gesture preserved in an emote can outlive any context and be seen by people who never saw the original show. For licensors, that entails running “spoiler-aware” checks and balances with partners or serving up alternative animations when plot beats carry potentially sensitive symbolism.
For Fortnite, the answer buttresses its guardrails. In the context of a third-person, all-ages battle royale where dances double as viral content, playing it safe isn’t just about branding — and in that case no company (or child) is too small. Don’t count on Peaceful Hips returning, however; if a review of the episode by Epic upholds that Peaceful’s creative intent is spelled out in the episode itself, we won’t be seeing her again.
