Following recent US concert tragedy.
A music emote featuring Travis Scott has been removed from today’s Fortnite item shop, as the US rapper faces legal action following the deaths of eight people at his Astroworld festival held in Texas over the weekend.
Epic Games pulled the Out West emote, which features a sample of licensed music from Out West by Travis Scott and Jackboys, alongside all other items in the shop’s Daily section.
Fortnite’s support Twitter later acknowledged the shop section’s removal, but did not detail why.
It?s known that the “Daily” section of the Item Shop has been disabled. This is intentional and the “Daily” section will return with the next Item Shop refresh. pic.twitter.com/rc6Kqh7qoW
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) November 8, 2021
This content is hosted on an external platform, which will only display it if you accept targeting cookies. Please enable cookies to view.
Eight people died and more than 300 were injured in the crush during Friday’s opening night performance at Astroworld, the annual festival organised by Scott and held in Houston, Texas.
Media reports suggest an entrance to the concert site had been breached by scores of people without tickets, overcrowding the venue to dangerous levels.
The appearance of the Out West emote in the Fortnite item shop today was likely timed for the end of Astroworld – though the remainder of the festival was scrapped.
Epic Games does not typically discuss the workings and selections of Fortnite’s Item Shop, though it’s believed each day’s line-up is programmed in advance.
Fortnite fans have largely welcomed the removal of Scott’s emote from the shop today, although there’s no block in place to stop existing owners from using it or the in-game Travis Scott character skin.
Travis Scott was the star of last year’s big in-game Fortnite concert. Named “Astronomical”, it featured a memorable set of the rapper’s tracks, with the star able to purchase as a skin via the in-game item shop.
Some fans have called for Scott’s items to now be locked, at least temporarily, to avoid misuse in the wake of the tragedy. Eurogamer has contacted Epic for comment.
