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We didn’t mean it that way

Fortnite disables Peacemaker emote that might resemble a swastika

Epic will “inquire into our partner’s creative intentions” before making a final decision.

Kyle Orland – | 103
Hmmm, where have I seen that arm shape before... Credit: Epic Games
Hmmm, where have I seen that arm shape before... Credit: Epic Games
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Epic Games has disabled a Fortnite emote based on the HBO show Peacemaker after the latest episode cast the dancing animation in a potentially different light.

The remainder of this post contains spoilers for Season 2 of Peacemaker.

The “Peaceful Hips” emote, which was first introduced to the game on September 15, mirrors the dance motions that John Cena’s character Christopher Smith makes during the opening credits sequence for the show’s second season. In the dance and the emote (which can be applied to any character in-game), the dancer briefly flails their arms at opposing right angles before shaking their hips seductively.

Some are seeing the dance in a different light after the sixth episode of the show’s second season, “Ignorance is Chris,” which revealed that the alternate universe featured throughout the season has been controlled by swastika-brandishing Nazis. With that knowledge front of mind, the arm movements in the dance emote could be seen as a winking reference to the arms of a swastika.

“[In] season 2 there’s a lot more of the story of the season in the intro, [in] the first season there wasn’t as much of a reference to the story,” choreographer Charissa Barton said in a video interview posted by Warner Bros. last month.

The opening dance sequence to Season 2 of Peacemaker.

The arm motions mean what?

Fans have been picking up on hints of the show’s eventual Nazi-related reveal (including from that opening dance) as the second season has aired over recent weeks. But the confirmation of the link in Sunday’s episode had Epic quickly re-evaluating the emote by Sunday night.

“We’re disabling the Peaceful Hips Emote in Fortnite as we inquire into our partner’s creative intentions in this collab emote,” the official Fortnite Support social media account posted. “Assuming it’s not coming back, we’ll issue refunds in the next few days. Sorry folks.”

Epic’s newfound questions about “artistic intent” are a bit baffling from the outside, as there’s nothing in the show that suggests the show or its creators intended to impart a pro-Nazi message. Still, in the limited context of a 10-second dance clip, the arm motions could be seen as evoking a Nazi symbol without any of the anti-Nazi circumstances presented in the show itself.

A shot from the latest Peacemaker episode shows a swastika replacing the stars on an American flag.
Credit: Warner Bros.
A shot from the latest Peacemaker episode shows a swastika replacing the stars on an American flag. Credit: Warner Bros.

We also have to wonder how much visibility Epic had into the show’s plotlines when the emote partnership was approved weeks ago. What could have just seemed like a goofy reference to the show’s opening dance might have raised more alarm bells if Epic had seen the scripts for the entire season in the first place.

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn promoted the emote’s launch on social media earlier this month, calling it a “peace-spreading, hip-swaying” dance.

Epic Games has faced numerous controversies surrounding its dancing emotes in the past. In 2021, it removed a Travis Scott-related emote following a tragic crowd stampede incident at a Scott concert. And last year, the company allowed individual users to disable some emotes that were viewed as “confrontational” when used in certain competitive settings.

Epic has also faced at least one lawsuit over potential copyright issues surrounding its use of specific dance moves for emotes. That lawsuit was settled out of court last year under undisclosed terms.

[This story originally suggested Sunday’s episode was the season finale. Ars regrets the error.]

Photo of Kyle Orland
Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor
Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper.
103 Comments
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j
jasonml
So, while normally this would be crazy, in the context of the show and the coreography, it's definetly the underlying reason. Basically, it is representative of a swatsika. Not knowable, as it wasn't meant to be obvious. But in the show, it was a clue. So yeah, I can understand why this is a concern.

Basicaly, alone it's fine. But in context, it represents a swatsika.
e
eXceLon
I saw this mentioned elsewhere, that the dance move in the intro might have been lifted from a piece of WW2 propaganda from Disney.

Donald Duck Nazi Short

For those comparing it to Gumby or The Bangles, the key difference is alternating the arms back and forth.
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