Fortnite’s Halloween event – Fortnitemares – runs until November 1st, featuring iconic characters from horror franchises like Friday the 13th, as well as from series like Scooby Doo, and new locations which reflect these spooky themes.
However, it also features Doja Cat, who is herself a fan of the game, and plenty of the discussion around the event is centred on a social media exchange between her and the official Fortnite account.
The exchange has now been taken down from X, but it originally featured an official Fortnite account (using Doja Cat’s in-game avatar) stating “Mother of rose toys” which many took to be a reference to sex toys.
This is naturally going to be controversial when a large number of Fortnite players are children, but Doja Cat’s replies to the original post made it clear that she wasn’t on-board with it either.
Fortnitemares Doja Cat Controversy
Doja Cat replied to the original post with “I told them not to man that’s not even me. I said this yesterday and then said ‘don’t post that’ :/.”
Subsequent replies from other users cast doubt on the idea that it wasn’t Doja Cat who originally posted, but she repeatedly insists that it wasn’t. Without an official statement from Epic Games or any other kind of insight, it’s difficult to know what to make of the situation.
Her position as a fan of the game and the face of the event has no doubt brought in a lot of popular attention, but it’s unclear whether this is an extension of that or not.
A Manufactured Controversy?
There is always the chance (and certainly always the suggestion), when it comes to public disputes and scandals like this, that it’s been manufactured as a PR stunt; a way of drawing attention to the Fortnitemares event where the net result is seen as a boost in engagement, even if it means creating an element of negative press.
It’s difficult to say whether that would apply here. While the disagreement itself could certainly be something that was staged to some degree, making any kinds of reference to sex toys in the first place when Fortnite has the demographic that it has, could threaten to be more damaging for its PR. In addition to this, the fact that the exchange was taken down afterwards muddies the waters further, though that could also be an effort to add an element of believability to it.
