When is the Fortnite Bear Hug emote coming back, and why it was disabled?

Fortnite's Ariana Grande Rift Tour has come to an end. Players not only got a glimpse of their favorite pop star in the game but also received a ton of goodies related to the event.

Epic had meticulously crafted a slew of unique Rift Tour quests that players could complete to get rewards, along with Ariana Grande skins and emotes. One such emote was the Bear Hug emote.

Epic permanently took down the emote from Fortnite recently, as players found something "inappropriate" about it. Although the Bear Hug is a reasonably innocuous emote - for all it does is allow two players to hug each other - it seems to be plagued by a bug that has led to its removal from Fortnite.

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Fortnite Season 7: Why did Epic disable the Bear Hug emote, and when will it be back?

If the Bear Hug is an innocuous emote, why was it disabled? Well, the world of Fornite is no stranger to bugs and glitches, and it seems like the recently released Bear Hug emote has been a victim of the same.

In a tweet by DatOneJackalope, it seems like some players have found an animation glitch in the Bear Hug emote. If one of the characters crouches while another remains standing up, this image could be comprehended as NSFW. Players can see the tweet below.

HELLO????WHY DID SHE GO IN TO HUG LIKE THAT pic.twitter.com/BGYdTjGIud

— That Jackalope Liv (@DatOneJackalope) August 6, 2021

This has induced the developers to completely disable the emote from Fortnite. Fortnite Status on Twitter stated that the Bear Hug emote has been disabled and removed from the Item Shop. Any player who currently holds the emote will be unable to use it.

We've temporarily disabled and removed the Bear Hug emote from the Item Shop. We'll let you know when it's available again. pic.twitter.com/wx4o9m6CEI

— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) August 6, 2021

In another tweet, Fortnite Status further clarified that the Bear Hug emote will remain disabled until the developers fix the issue with the emote. Players who purchased the emote will also be getting a tokenless refund.

The Bear Hug emote will remain disabled while we fix an issue with the emote.Players who have already purchased the emote will be able to make a tokenless refund sometime next week.

— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) August 6, 2021

The Bear Hug emote was part of the Ariana Grande concert and was meant to celebrate the event. As for when the Bear Hug emote will return to Fortnite, Epic has not provided any specific timeline or date. Therefore, players will have to wait until the bug is fixed and Epic is confident that the emote can be rolled out again.