Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Entertainment, Music, TikTok
Sarah Halle Corey
Brat summer may be over, but it lives on in the form of lawsuits. Remember the dance to Charli XCX’s song “Apple” that went so viral on TikTok that even Charli herself did it? Well, it was a little too popular, especially with Roblox, and so now the creator of the dance is suing them. Kelley Heyer created the “Apple” dance in a TikTok video in June 2024, and later that year Roblox started using her choreography for player avatars without her permission. Not cool, Roblox. And now Kelley is suing them because of it.
FWIW, Charli is still doing Kelley’s “Apple” dance choreography, as recently as at her 2025 Coachella set. It doesn’t look like Kelley has an issue with Charli, just like it doesn’t seem like she has an issue with the many, many videos of people doing the “Apple” dance that inevitably wound up on your TikTok FYP last year. The issue is the fact that Roblox was using Kelley’s choreography for their own profit, and they didn’t cut Kelley in on any of it. Again, not really a cool move on Roblox’s part, so let’s dig in and discuss what we know about the “Apple” dance choreography lawsuit.
Kelley Heyer’s attorney Miki Anzai said in a statement: “Roblox moved forward using Kelley’s IP without a signed agreement. Kelley is an independent creator who should be compensated fairly for her work and we saw no other option than to file suit to prove that. We remain willing and open to settle and hope to come to a peaceful agreement.”
And Roblox released a statement regarding the suit, stating: “As a platform powered by a community of creators, Roblox takes the protection of intellectual property very seriously and is committed to protecting intellectual property rights of independent developers and creators to brands and artists both on and off the platform. Roblox is confident in its position and the propriety of its dealings in this matter and looks forward to responding in court.”
According to the lawsuit Kelley filed on April 11, she first posted the “Apple” dance in June 2024 and then filed a copyright for it in August 2024. Around that time, Roblox approached her to ask if they could use the dance in their game, but before Kelley and Roblox could agree on a deal, they just went ahead and put the dance in the game anyway as an “Apple” dance emote for players to buy. How does the saying go, act first and seek permission later? I don’t know if that really applies when you’re stealing from independent creators.
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Roblox took the emote off the game in November 2024, but they still made around $123,000 from it. Kelley hasn’t seen any of that money, and so she’s suing to get her share.
Kelley is an actor who lives in LA, and a huge Charli XCX fan (who among is not?). Obvi, she loves brat and thought it would be funny to make her first TikTok dance ever to “Apple.” That’s right, Kelley had never made a TikTok dance before, which makes it even more wild that this one blew up so much.
As far as we can tell, Charli XCX doesn’t have anything to do with this lawsuit. This is just between Kelley and Roblox, all the while Charli’s still “Apple” dancing her little brat heart out on the Coachella stage.