Epic Games has just confirmed that Apu's strange appearance in a Fortnite in-game photograph was an unintentional error and that a fix is on the way soon. About a day after Fortnite's Simpsons mini-season went live, some fans noticed that a photograph found in the Moe's Tavern POI had erroneously given the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon a yellow skin tone.
The in-game Fortnite photograph is a reference to the Season 5 Simpsons episode 'Homer's Barbershop Quartet,' where the titular family man, Barney Gumble, Principal Skinner, and Apu form a singing group known as the Be Sharps. While Homer, Barney, and Skinner all have the correct skin and hair color in the Fortnite photo, Apu is depicted with yellow skin and light brown hair, which had some fans accusing Fortnite of "whitewashing" the character.
Fortnite Is Correcting Apu Skin Tone Error
This Fortnite x Simpsons crossover issue was first discovered and posted to X by user @MemeManTweets, who shared a screenshot of the in-game photograph on November 2 with the caption, "Apu is probably not coming this season THEY ERASED HIM FROM THE BE SHARPS PORTRAIT IN MOE'S TAVERN." This fan also confirmed that the sequence of the original Season 5 episode that this Fortnite photograph is referencing features no such coloring issue, which suggests that this is a Fortnite-specific issue.
X user @nescartridges replied to the post a few days later suggesting that the issue was probably just an "oversight" on Epic Games' part as Apu (with the correct hair and skin tone) can be found in a different photo elsewhere in Moe's Tavern, which depicts Homer, Otto, Moe, and Apu on the Pin Pals bowling team from the Season 7 Simpsons episode 'Team Homer.' On November 6, the Fortnite Status X account replied to the thread with the statement, "This wasn't intentional, it's being adjusted in our next release."
An exact date for this upcoming fix wasn't given by Epic Games, but it seems likely that this unintentional issue will be fixed as part of Fortnite's November 11 v38.10 update. Along with some technical fixes, this v38.10 update will reportedly add a new Mythic weapon to the game and a new "Makeup Shotgun" inspired by the Season 10 Simpsons episode 'The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,' if recent leaks are to be believed. Alternatively, there's a possibility Fortnite's Apu issue could be remedied earlier than November 11 as part of an unannounced hotfix.
Despite this controversy, Fortnite's Simpsons mini-season has been a major success for the battle royale, with Epic Games confirming recently that it's brought in "the biggest number of new and returning Fortnite players since last holiday season." The Fortnite x Simpsons crossover is set to end on November 29 with a live event that will bring about the end of Fortnite Chapter 6, and the beginning of Chapter 7.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
- Released
- September 26, 2017
- ESRB
- T for Teen - Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Epic Games
- Publisher(s)
- Epic Games
