On Wednesday, Epic Games launched its Rainbow Royale event intended to celebrate the battle royale’s LGBTQIA+ community. Even as the Rainbow Royale event began, however, a controversy erupted involving one ofFortnite’s most prominently featured content creators. Not only was the creator revealed to have made and supported homophobic statements, butFortniteappears to have implicitly decided to continue platforming the creator’s content even after their homophobia was revealed.
Wednesday morning Epic posted a tweet regarding theRainbow Royale event, linking to details. The creator, who will go unnamed due to their age, first responded to the post in a dismissive fashion. After being questioned, they then responded, “I’m not a fanatic, but this is against nature.” Other more explicitly homophobic posts were then found to have been liked on Twitter by the user, including a post featuring a Pride flag being burned with language saying “F***” followed by a homophobic slur.
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The user, it was discovered, is a creator of one ofFortnite’s Creative Island maps. The map is named Pro 100, which is perhapsFortnite’s most popular Creative mode map and was even featured as one ofFortnite’s LTMs during itsCosmic Summer Quests event. Naturally, when this was discovered, it was immediately brought toFortnite’s attention on social media. Epic then quickly responded to the feedback, disabling the creator’s map and Support a Creator code, which when used led to Epic directly paying the creator.
Initially, it seemed like Epic had responded as necessary to well-evidenced bigotry. However,Epicthen reversed its decision following the creator issuing an apology on Twitter. They said that they were “not trying to hurt anyone but express my opinion about the event.” They go on to say that their comments were made, “because it is against my religion and I was grown up that way.” They otherwise say “sorry” for what they said about the Rainbow Royale event and ask for a second chance as they “try [to be] better in the future.”
Epic reenabled the creator’s maps, includingPro 100, as well as their Support a Creator code. Understandably, members ofFortnite’s community reacted to Epic’s decision to reinstate the creator’s content and Creator code negatively. They note that the creator’s homophobia was explicit and ask Epic not to platform and financially support those views.
It should be noted thatFortnitehas clear rules for content creators and those with Creator codes. Those rules include obligations to not create content that includes intolerance or discrimination, including against theLGBT+ community. The Pro 100 creator is alleged to have broken those rules, making the reinstatement of the creator’s content understandably confusing. Needless to say, Epic’s decision to continue platform someone with those views certainly stands in opposition to its claimed “celebration” ofFortnite’s LGBTQUIA+ community.
Fortniteis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and mobile devices.
