On April 16, American singer David Anthony Burke, aka d4vd, one of the many celebrities to have collaborated with Fortnite, was arrested in the heinous murder case of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Ever since then, the highly popular game’s community has been discussing the future of certain in-game items that have a link with the 21-year-old in custody.
D4vd and Fortnite have a long history. Before breaking out in the world of music, he used to post Fortnite video compilations with others’ music on TikTok. Fed up with the copyright strikes, d4vd started creating his own music to play alongside the game’s visuals, which eventually led to his first major hit, “Romantic Homicide” in 2022. Following successes, “Here With Me”, “Sleep Well”, and “Feel It” further propelled the viral TikTok user towards stardom.
Fortnite d4vd collaboration
Among d4vd’s early collabs with Fortnite was the d4vd Cup in August 2024, which added his “Feel It” emote to the game. Then, in April 2025, a group of existing in-game items personally picked by the singer became available for Fortnite players as “d4vd’s Locker Bundle” in the Item Shop. His song “What Are You Waiting For” was also a part of the limited-time bundle before it was eventually added as a jam track in Fortnite Festival.
Most recently, in September 2025, d4vd did a collaboration with Fortnite—the game that started it all for him. The partnership ensued the release of Fortnite’s first official anthem, “Locked & Loaded”, which was also the official song for the Fortnite Global Championship Series (FNCS) that year. It was added to Fortnite Festival’s jam track. In the same month, a second d4vd emote, “Trophy Drop”, was introduced in the game.
Fortnite d4vd controversy
The latest controversy is concerned with the future availability of the aforementioned d4vd-related items in Fortnite. Many players on social media wondering if they will be removed from the game eventually.
In case that happens, it would fall in line with how other parties, with whom the accused musician previously worked, reacted after the surfacing of the grave crime.
While many musicians have pulled down their works with d4vd from streaming services, some of them have also come out describing their partnership as merely professional. It was also revealed that his label, Interscope Records, secretly cut ties with him near the end of 2025 after the remains of Hernandez were discovered in d4vd’s car in September of that year.
Moving on, YouTube has also demonetized the infamous artist’s account. Outside the music industry, EA also removed his song “What Are You Waiting For” from Madden NFL 26’s soundtrack at some point after the crime came out in the open.
Must read: Steps to refund d4vd Cosmetics in Fortnite
Epic Games responds to community concerns
For the time being, Epic Games has announced that it is making a “bunch of changes” to address the fan concerns regarding this and plan to release them “over time.” It is currently allowing refunds for d4vd cosmetics for those players taking it up with the developer’s support team.
Starting from April 28, Epic has ensured that players will be able to refund items associated with the murder suspect without any wait and via a self-service refund process. This will be the first of the changes the Fortnite developer is set to make in the coming days.
