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Canada man gets $149 ticket for singing 'Everybody Dance Now' song while driving in Quebec

Original singer of hit song calls it 'ridiculous'
Canada man gets $149 ticket for singing 'Everybody Dance Now' song while driving in Quebec
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Taoufik Moalla may have to pay $149 for singing one of his favorite 1990's hits.

The Montreal resident told Canada's CTV News that he was driving through Quebec last month, singing along with "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory, when a police officer pulled him over.

"I stopped and four police came, two on each side, and checked the inside of the car," Moalla told CTV News this week. "Then they asked me if I screamed. I said, 'No, I was just singing.'"

 

He said the officers then wrote him a $149 ticket ($117 US) for "screaming in public," which is a violation of "peace and tranquility," according to Montreal bylaws.

Moalla joked that he doesn't know if they gave him the ticket because his singing voice is bad but said he plans to contest the citation in court, which could take months.

He said he was singing because he was "happy" and he liked the song.

After Moalla's story made international news, singer Martha Wash, of C+C Music Factory and The Weather Girls, said she thinks the ticket was "totally ridiculous" and that she's "totally delighted that [Moalla] loved this song so much that he had to sing along with me."

"What's next? Tickets for singing in the shower?" Wash said in a statement.

"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was a Top Ten hit in the United States and Canada after it was released in 1990.

Clint Davis covers entertainment and trending news topics for the Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @MrClintDavis. Keep up to date with the latest news by following @ScrippsNational on Twitter.