Fortnite is gearing up for its biggest Halloween celebration yet with Fortnitemares, featuring a massive roster of crossover characters including Wednesday Addams. However, the event’s initial announcement hit a snag last night thanks to a rather awkward social media mishap involving rap star Doja Cat and an unexpected mention of a sex toy.
The spooky festivities this year prominently feature musician and avid Fortnite player Doja Cat. She recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to unveil her in-game persona, Mother of Thorns, who will also serve as a boss character during the event.
Prior to the trailer’s release, Fortnite briefly handed over its official X (formerly Twitter) account to “Doja Cat” for a special takeover. Unfortunately, this quickly led to chaos when a post, seemingly from Doja Cat via Fortnite’s account, included a reference to “rose toys,” which are a type of vibrating adult toy.
On her personal X account, Doja Cat publicly revealed that the Fortnite posts were pre-planned, and she had specifically instructed Epic Games to avoid mentioning sex toys. Expressing her embarrassment, she wrote, “S*** cringe as f*** now I’m embarrassed,” followed by a wilted rose emoji. Fortnite quickly removed the controversial “rose toys” post, and Doja Cat subsequently deleted her own comments about the incident.
While some observers speculate the entire ordeal, including Doja Cat’s candid “fourth wall” break, was a calculated publicity stunt, it seems improbable that Fortnite would intentionally reference an adult toy on a platform frequented by its vast audience of younger players.
Despite the unexpected drama, players can still acquire a Doja Cat skin from Fortnite’s Shop, alongside an array of other famous faces. These include (deep breath): Wednesday Addams, Jason Voorhees, the entire Scooby-Doo gang (Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred), Black Phone’s Grabber, Terrifier’s Art the Clown, and Ghostface, among many others.
Further expanding the horror lineup, characters from Poppy’s Playtime and R.E.P.O. are also set to appear. Beyond the character skins, Fortnite’s new spooky gameplay extends beyond the traditional Battle Royale and Zero Build modes. A brand-new Reload map, Nitemare Island, will launch on October 10, complete with a haunting Halloween-themed town and a formidable castle.
This year’s Fortnitemares follows closely on the heels of Fortnite’s significant KPop Demon Hunters collaboration, which runs until November 1. In addition to Rumi, Mira, and Zoey as new skins, the HUNTR/X characters also headline Demon Rush, their exclusive in-game PVE mode, with various KPop Demon Hunters items also integrated into the core battle royale experience.