Carlton dance legal drama: How a ‘Friends’ star and Eddie Murphy inspired the moves
Cousin Carlton is duking it out with Fortnite.
Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Will Smith’s cousin on “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” is suing the creator of the uber-popular video game, charging that it is using his famous “Carlton dance” without his permission or paying him.
The dance is “one of more than 100 dances that players can buy for their characters,” according to CBS News, which estimates that at about $5 a dance, “it’s earned the game creators hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The dance is one of the most iconic in pop culture history. Ribeiro created the moves for “Fresh Prince,” which ran from 1990 to 1996, according to IMDB.
Ribeiro performed it when he competed on Season 19 of “Dancing With the Stars,” which he won.
Arms flailing side to side, hips swaying awkwardly, Ribeiro dances it to the Tom Jones standard “It’s Not Unusual.”
His character of khaki-wearing rich kid Carlton Banks was light years away from what he was like in real life, the actor told Variety in 2015. “I grew up in the Bronx, I was a hip-hop kid,” he said.
“I played a character that was as far from myself as possible. They would have to bring me a CD and some articles for me to read up on what the character liked, because I had never heard of Tom Jones. I didn’t know Barry Manilow.”
For one episode, the script said “Carlton dances.”
That’s it. Just “Carlton dances.”
It was never supposed to be a funny dance, Ribeiro told Variety, but that’s what it became.
He said he was inspired by two people: Courteney Cox before she was “Friends” famous, and Eddie Murphy mocking the way white people dance.
“The dance is ultimately Courteney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video ‘Dancing in the Dark’; that’s the basis,” he told Variety.
“Or in Eddie Murphy’s ‘Delirious’ video, ‘The White Man Dance’ as he called it. And I said, ‘That is the corniest dance on the planet that I know of, so why don’t I do that?’”
In his lawsuit, Ribeiro says he first performed the dance on the show’s 1991 “Will’s Christmas Show” episode, according to PC Gamer.
“The Dance has become synonymous with Ribeiro, who is unanimously credited with creating The Dance,” the lawsuit says, according to PC Gamer.
“Ribeiro has also been interviewed several times about the creation of The Dance and how to properly perform it. Accordingly, The Dance is a part of Ribeiro’s identity and The Dance’s unique movements readily evoke a connection to Ribeiro.”
He is the latest celebrity with moves suing Fortnite creator Epic Games. Rapper 2 Milly has sued the company over the use of his dance, called “the Milly Rock,” and Instagram personality Backpack Kid has filed suit over Fortnite’s use of his dance, “the floss,” CBS reports.
Ribeiro is also suing Take-Two Interactive, the maker of NBA 2K18, for using the dance, according to CNBC.
This story was originally published December 18, 2018 at 9:12 AM with the headline "Carlton dance legal drama: How a ‘Friends’ star and Eddie Murphy inspired the moves."