Ryan Reynolds' viral dance scene in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine is now the subject of a lawsuit filed by choreographer Darrin Henson, who claims his work was used in the movie without his permission.
The choreography in question is from the music video for NSYNC's 2000 hit "Bye Bye Bye," which was created by Henson, who says that he owns the copyright to it. He argues that Sony Music wrongfully “held themselves out as the owners of the work” after licensing it to Marvel Studios.
Henson, who won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography for the video, says that his dance routine is now “unjustly affiliated with Marvel” due to a license Sony granted for intellectual property that it does not own.
According to Henson, Sony also wrongfully licensed the choreography to Epic Games for users to play in the Fortnite video game.
“The reality is that the work belongs to Henson, and to obtain full acknowledgement of his ownership and a complete transfer of all monies earned by SME and its licensees, the plaintiff must seek declaratory relief from the court,” Henson's lawyers argue.
In the suit, Henson mentions that he has tried to come to an agreement “amicably” with the label, but they refuse to settle. Sony argues that because it owns the copyrights to the “Bye Bye Bye” music video, it is permitted to license out the choreography as it wishes.