Forza Horizon 4 no longer features two dance emotes—the Carlton and the Floss—which were previously available for use by in-game avatars. The removal is listed under the "Other Improvements" section in the notes for the game's Series 5 update, which launched yesterday with a new online adventure playlist and new Mitsubishi cars for the game, among other changes.

Microsoft has not offered a public explanation for the removal, though a spokesperson told Kotaku "Forza Horizon 4 features a large portfolio of content and is continuously updated." The move comes, though, after both dances became the subject of lawsuits regarding their similar inclusion in Epic's Fortnite.

The Carlton—popularized by actor Alfonso Ribeiro on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air—and the Floss—popularized by Russell "Backpack Kid" Horning in a Saturday Night Live performance—are the apparent inspiration for two Fortnite emotes that can be purchased as part of various Battle Pass DLC packages. Lawsuits filed against Epic by those dancers accuse the Fortnite maker of illegally profiting from their copyrighted dance creations.

Those Fortnite lawsuits follow one filed by rapper Terrence "2 Milly" Ferguson last month over the inclusion of his "Milly Rock" dance move in the game. Earlier this week, YouTuber "Orange Shirt Kid" joined the legal fray around Fortnite, accusing Epic of copying his dance for the game's "Orange Justice" emote.

Forza Horizon 4 still includes a number of other dance-based emotes, including ones apparently drawing inspiration from Michael Jackson's "Moonwalk," Drake's "Hotline Bling," and the "Macarena," among other more generic dances.

Despite the Fortnite lawsuits, it's still very much an open question whether these kinds of individual dance moves can be protected in court. The US Copyright office's guidance on Choreography and Pantomime notes that, just as common words and phrases are not subject to copyright, "individual movements or dance steps by themselves are not copyrightable, such as the basic waltz step, the hustle step, the grapevine, or the second position in classical ballet."

As Foley Hoag Associate Alyssa Clarke wrote last year, "allowing these building blocks to be protected could chill creativity and innovation." Apparently, even the threat of a lawsuit has had already has a chilling effect on Microsoft when it comes to using those moves in its latest racing game.