EXCLUSIVE

Alfonso Ribeiro Sues Fortnite and NBA 2K Creators ... For Stealing Carlton Dance

2:45 PM PT -- 2 Milly has also sued 2K Games for putting his dance in NBA 2K.

12:35 PM PT -- Ribeiro just filed an identical suit against 2K Games -- the company that makes NBA 2K.

Alfonso Ribeiro is the latest celeb who's got beef with Fortnite's pop culture-influenced dances -- and now he's suing the creators of the game for jacking his own.

The former 'Fresh Prince' star just filed suit against Epic Games -- which developed the crazy popular multi-player game -- claiming the company completely ripped off the famous dance his character, Carlton Banks, did on the show throughout the series.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Alfonso says that Fortnite released a new dance that its characters can perform called the "Fresh emote," which came out on Jan 2, 2018 ... and it's a carbon copy of what he claims he came up with on the '90s sitcom.

He also claims he's in the middle of copyrighting the Carlton dance.

The lawsuit is almost identical to the one filed by 2 Milly earlier this month for jacking his "Milly Rock" dance.

Alfonso's attorney, David Hecht of Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP, tells us, "It is widely recognized that Mr. Ribeiro’s likeness and intellectual property have been misappropriated by Epic Games in the most popular video game currently in the world, Fortnite."

He continues, "Epic has earned record profits off of downloadable content in the game, including emotes like “Fresh.” Yet Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr. Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property."

We reached out to Epic Games but were told they don't comment on ongoing litigation.

Originally published -- 12/17/2018 11:19 AM PST

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