Robloxis no stranger to controversy. The game (or rather, the hub which hosts thousands of user-generated games) has always had a very young audience, yet often deals with highly inappropriate themes. Arecent report found that Roblox’s lack of safeguardingput players at risk of being groomed, whileKim Kardashian once stopped her child from playingafter finding explicit videos of herself in the game. Now, the game is under fire again.
Kelley Heyer is currently suing Roblox for featuring her Apple Dance, which went viral last summer alongside the Charli XCX album Brat. The dance, to Apple from the Brat album, became a mainstay of Brat Summer, and Heyer even performed it on stage at one of Charli XCX’s concerts. It’s so iconic Roblox wanted to include it in the game, but while negotiations were underway, it seems Roblox added the dance anyway. Now, Heyer is suing.
Roblox “Refused To Finalize A License Agreement” For The Apple Dance
“Roblox moved forward using Kelley’s IP without a signed agreement,”Heyer’s attorney Miki Anzai said in a statement to Polygon. “Kelley is an independent creator who should be compensated fairly for her work and we saw no other option than to file suit to prove that. We remain willing and open to settle and hope to come to a peaceful agreement.”
The timeline can get a little confusing, so here’s a breakdown. On June 11, 2025, Heyer posted the Apple dance online for the first time. By August 30, she had filed to copyright the moves. In between these two dates, Roblox reached out to Heyer to ask if the game could license the dance, and it was added to the game on August 17 alongside a Brat-themed update forDress to Impress. Heyer’s lawsuit alleges that five days earlier, on August 12, she had agreed to license the dance once her copyright had been confirmed.
However, since it was added to Roblox 13 days before the copyright was filed, Heyer received no compensation for the dance being added, as Roblox “refused to finalize a license agreement” according to Heyer’s statement. The lawsuit also notes that Roblox sold “in excess of 60,000 units of the Apple Dance emote” and earned “an estimated $123,000” in sales. It also confirms that both Fortnite and Netflix officially licensed the dance from Heyer, who is listed as the sole owner (rather than with Charli XCX) as it was independently choreographed and is not part of Apple officially.
The dance was pulled from Roblox in November 2024 and has not been back since, but Heyer still wants compensation for the period in which it was sold. GivenAlfonso Ribeiro once failed in his attempt to sue Fortnire for using The Carlton, it will be interesting to see if things fare differently for Heyer.
Update 18/04/25 08:53 BST:Roblox reached out to TheGamer with a short statement: “As a platform powered by a community of creators, Roblox takes the protection of intellectual property very seriously and is committed to protecting intellectual property rights of independent developers and creators to brands and artists both on and off the platform. Roblox is confident in its position and the propriety of its dealings in this matter and looks forward to responding in court.”
