Fortnite has removed and altered cosmetics due to controversy before. Considering how the crossover battle royale indiscriminately devours pop culture to turn it into cosmetics, it’s pretty much inevitable that something problematic or otherwise objectionable would end up in the game. However, it doesn’t sound like Epic is currently planning to remove pop singer David “D4vd” Burke’s music from the game, even as he faces accusations of killing 14-year-old girl Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, Hernandez’s body was found in an impounded Tesla registered to Burke in Los Angeles back in September. Burke was not in Los Angeles at the time, but as law enforcement and the internet investigated Hernandez’s death, it came to light that the 21-year-old singer had an established relationship with her, and Burke was officially named a suspect in November, with an arrest finally made on April 16. We won’t get into the details here as they are disturbing, but if you want to learn more, there are extensive reports on the investigation you can read.
Meanwhile, Burke was featured in Fortnite last May in a cosmetic bundle, including an emote that uses his song “Feel It.” According to Fortnite’s social channels, an update will be going out tomorrow, April 28, that will allow anyone who bought these cosmetics to initiate a self-service refund in the game itself. This is the first of “a bunch of changes [Epic is] rolling out over time.” However, what it seems the company isn’t doing is immediately removing these items entirely, despite several responses from fans urging it to do so. The company is fully capable of doing this, as it removed a Peacemaker emote last year for fear of it being a subtle reference to a Nazi swastika.
We hear the concerns. We have a bunch of changes we’re rolling out over time. The first one will be available on Tuesday April 28th, when anyone who purchased one of these items will be able to get an immediate self-service refund. And, right now, players who request refunds for…
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) April 26, 2026
We’ve reached out to Epic for comment, and the company said it didn’t have “anything additional to share” beyond the above tweet.
