The Fortnite X Cybertruck collaboration has been under fire recently after the owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, saluted to the crowd during his speech at President Trump’s inauguration.
After seeing Musk’s controversial salutes, many in the Fortnite community on r/FortNiteBR have called for the Tesla Cybertruck to be banned from the Item Shop or removed entirely from the game. These demands arose after millions of people watching the speeches during Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 saw Musk pounding his chest and lifting his arm in a saluting gesture.
The controversial salute was performed twice by Musk, with many viewers shocked to see what they believed to be a Nazi salute. Although others have argued it was not meant to be that sort of gesture, some are so convinced that they are now calling for the Tesla Cybertruck to be removed from Fortnite.
The original poster on r/FortNiteBR explained, “Considering how horrible this situation was, people was rightfully saying that the Tesla Cybertruck should be blacklisted from the shop.” Others said “it wasn’t that bad” and “it’s not a big deal.” Another user added, “I thought his Twitter posts were bad but this is fucked up.”
Fortnite fans seem to agree that the salute could not have been anything else and that anyone defending the situation is “disgusting.” A lot of the Fortnite community has serious opinions about this situation, and gamers, being gamers, are expressing themselves in-game, too, by targeting anyone using the Cybertruck. One Reddit user said, “There is a reason why me and my friends kill every single person we see running that junk. We’ll actually abandon a fight to go chase a team with someone running it.”
The Tesla Cybertruck first appeared in the Fortnite Item Shop on Aug. 6, 2024, and has since returned multiple times, with the last appearance on Nov. 18, 2024. Epic Games has not indicated whether there are plans to remove the vehicle from the Item Shop or whether it is due to return any time soon. If the truck cosmetic is effectively banned, what would that mean for those players who bought the truck last year?
Thousands of players would require a refund if the Tesla Cybertruck were removed entirely from Fortnite. It is unlikely that Epic would want to deal with thousands of inquiries for V-Bucks refunds, so the most likely solution would be not to have the item returned to the shop in the future. This decision also depends on the details of Epic’s contract with Tesla. If a clause requires Epic to feature the Cybertruck a certain number of times over a year, they may not have much of a choice in the matter.
Fortnite has never had an issue like this, with people calling for an outright ban on an item due to its connection to a controversial person. Only time will tell whether Epic will listen to complaints or stay quiet on the issue.
Published: Jan 21, 2025 09:09 am