Creator of Viral Charli XCX Apple Dance Sues Roblox for Using Dance in Dress to Impress Without Permission

Kelley Heyer, Tiktok influencer and creator of the viral dance for Charli XCX’s song “Apple,” has sued Roblox, claiming that he used “Apple Dance” in the game and profited from her work without permission.

If you don’t exactly exist in the hip trends of young people, then “Apple Dance” is exactly what Tin says. It is a catchy dance conceived by Heyer and shared via Tiktok to Charli XCX’s song “Apple”. The dance has become extremely popular until it was screamed on a Charli XCX tour and shared on Charli XCX’s Tiktok.

So it’s no surprise that Roblox wanted Apple Dance as part of a collaboration with Charli XCX and one of the most popular games in Roblox, the Creative Fashion Contest game dress. The lawsuit in question where Polygon was discovered was filed last week in California. In the lawsuit, Heyer originally alleges that Robox contacted her to license Apple Dance for the crossover event. Heyer says that if the terms were correct, they were open to the idea that dance was licensed – she licensed it to Fortnite and Netflix via an actual signed agreement – but never reached an actual agreement with Roblox.

Heyer claims that Robox released it to sell Apple Dance Emot at the event before negotiations were completed, and Heyer does not agree to its use. According to Heyer, Roblox sold over 60,000 Apple Dance Emotes, resulting in an estimated $123,000 in sales. Suit also claims that while the emotes were part of the Charli XCX event, the dance emotes themselves are not suffering from songs or Charli XCX, so they are only Heyer’s intellectual property.

The lawsuit accuses Roblox of copyright infringement and unjust enrichment, and calls for relief in the form of benefits received from Roblox from Dance Plus Damages as a result of Roblox’s harm to Heyer’s brand, Heyer himself, and attorneys’ fees.

Updated 2:15 PM PT: Heyer’s Attoney, Miki Anzai, shared the following statement: “Roblox moved forward using Kelley’s IP without a signed agreement. Kelly is an independent creator who needs to compensate her work fairly and has seen other options to prove it.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at Passthecontroller. You can find her posts at Bluesky @Duckvalentine.bsky.social. Do you have any tips for the story? Send to [email protected].