Fortnite removes accidentally NSFW emote

Fortnite Rift tour — (Image credit: Epic)

Epic Games has removed an emote that's raising eyebrows for a decidedly NSFW glitch.

As flagged by Eurogamer, the Bear Hug emote was available briefly from Fortnite's in-game shop before last weekend's big Ariana Grande concert. When animated as intended, the emote was a friendly gesture you could use to show affection for someone, but as one player recorded in the below video, a glitch was making the emote... well, a little too friendly. Check it out:

HELLO????WHY DID SHE GO IN TO HUG LIKE THAT pic.twitter.com/BGYdTjGIudAugust 6, 2021

Of course, the gaming community being the mature, dignified bunch that it is, almost nobody noticed the glitch and everyone moved on with their lives... Just kidding, the above video went viral within the day and has been retweeted over a thousand times as of this report.

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Watch full video here:

Naturally, Epic Games removed the emote from the store swiftly and disabled it from working at all while the developers work on a fix. The studio hasn't revealed when the emote is coming back, but if you don't feel like waiting, you can request a tokenless refund now using the in-game flow.

Fortnite just wrapped its massive Rift Tour event featuring international pop star Ariana Grande, which was enough to turn GamesRadar's Alyssa Mercante into a bonafide Fortnite obsessive. And while the event is over, you can still grab the Ariana Grande cosmetics bundle from the in-game store.