Fortnite’s ‘Orange Shirt Kid’ gets justice after new dance added to game

Fortnite is a young game, but it already has a folk hero who goes by the name “Orange Shirt Kid.”

A young boy dressed in sweatpants and an orange shirt, standing in front of the window in a dark bedroom, flailing his arms around and dancing in silence, has become the icon of justice in Fortnite.

Orange Shirt Kid became immortalized last month during Epic’s BoogieDown contest. The contest asked people to submit their own dances, which could potentially be chosen as a new emote in Fortnite. The contest amassed thousands of applicants, but Orange Shirt Kid’s adorable-turned-cringe-worthy video was one of the most popular. His dance, seen below, was featured in videos from PewDiePie, Pyrocynical and Dolan Darker.

Although Orange Shirt Kid lost the contest, his enthusiastic dance moves caught the attention of the Fortnite community, who made him an honorary legend. A Change.org petition was launched in his name in an effort to get Epic Games to alter the outcome. More than 11,000 people signed the petition.

Thankfully, there is justice in the world. Fortnite players woke up today to see that Orange Shirt Kid is an available emote (playfully called Orange Justice) in the game. Players who purchase Fortnite’s Battle Pass will be able to get the emote basically as soon as they jump into the game. If you don’t want to purchase Battle Pass, the emote can be collected on tier 26. It came as a surprise to just about everyone — including Orange Shirt Kid himself.

Orange Justice emote.

Epic Games

Orange Justice emotes.

Epic Games

“THEY ADDED IT OMGOMG,” he tweeted this morning. “ORANGE JUSTICE BOI. Can’t wait for someone to kill me, know its me then do my dance. It’ll be so funny. GG Epic.”

It’s a big moment for Orange Shirt Kid, and for YouTubers alike, who turned his simple dance moves into one of the most popular memes on the platform.

The top post on Reddit’s popular Fortnite subreddit is all about Orange Shirt Kid, with players claiming that justice has finally been served.

“This is gonna be the new default dance,” one player wrote. “The best thing the community and the kid could have possibly wished for.”

Source: Polygon – Full