Alfonso Ribeiro Just Lost His Battle Royale in Carlton vs. Fortnite
As we prepare to witness some of the most contentious legal battles in our nation's history, let’s take a moment to celebrate the outcome of one that will undoubtedly shape generations to come. Alfonso Ribeiro, host of America’s Funniest Home Videos and a former winner of Dancing with the Stars, has attempted and failed to copyright the Carlton Dance.
To quote Jennifer Garner in the gay-centric romantic comedy sleeper hit, Love, Simon, “You can breathe now.”
Originally reported in the Hollywood Reporter, the paperwork that Ribeiro filed with the U.S. Copyright Office was denied because his choreographic claims were deemed “a simple dance routine.” Little harsh, Gretchen, but I get the gist. The entire dance is explained in full by Saskia Florence, who works in the Performing Arts Division. The description is honestly hilarious. Here. This is for you.
“The dancer sways their hips as they step from side to side, while swinging their arms in an exaggerated manner. In the second dance step, the dancer takes two steps to each side while opening and closing their legs and their arms in unison. In the final step, the dancer's feet are still and they lower one hand from above their head to the middle of their chest while fluttering their fingers. The combination of these three dance steps is a simple routine that is not registrable as a choreographic work."
There are also concerns of true ownership of the dance. That creative license could go to NBC because it aired during The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Or what about Ribeiro's professional dancing partner, Witney Carson, who choreographed it during Dancing with the Stars? But neither of those entities are the ones pissed that it's featured in Fortnite or NBA 2K. That's Ribeiro, who again, is not one of the people who could stake a claim to the dance, even though trying to copyright it is such a Carlton move.
It probably also doesn't help that Ribeiro himself told Variety in 2015 that he got his inspiration for the dance from Courteney Cox (in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" video) and Eddie Murphy's interpretation of how white people dance, which, fair.
This is all to say that no one owns the Carlton Dance because in a sense, we all own the Carlton Dance. When you’re surprise drunk off a few too many IPAs, the Carlton Dance belongs to you. Or maybe when you’re just feeling vindictive and want to embarrass your kids in a Target: The dance belongs to you, too. Because you can’t tame a wild horse like that. When you free the Carlton Dance, America, too, becomes freer.
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