You Could Face a Year in Jail For Doing the #InMyFeelings Challenge

(Bloomberg) -- A roadside dance inspired by rapper Drake’s “In My Feelings” may be an Internet sensation, but in Egypt, it can land you behind bars.

The so-called KiKi Challenge involves people hopping out of a car and dancing to the song while the car is moving alongside. Videos posted from Egypt include one of a man wearing a traditional robe known as a galabiya jumping from a donkey-drawn cart to start hoofing. Posts on social media from Egypt have shown actress Dina El-Sherbiny and football star Essam El-Hadary hopping out of cars and jamming.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry says that while it’s fine to do the dance for fun, obstructing traffic could draw fines of up to 3,000 pounds ($167) and a year in prison, the Ahram Online news website reported. If the dance results in injury or death, the case could be referred to prosecutors, the portal quoted the ministry’s spokesman as saying.

Egypt isn’t the only country in the region where the dance has ruffled feathers. According to The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, prosecutors ordered the arrest of three “social media influencers” after they posted videos of themselves taking part in the dance challenge. Arrest warrants were issued on the ground that the dancing endangered the lives of others and offended public morals, the newspaper cited the prosecutor’s office as saying in a statement.

The #InMyFeelingschallenge became a viral dance sensation after the comedian Shiggy posted a video of himself shimmying to the song on Drake’s latest album, Scorpion. The video spawned a raft of copycats, essentially becoming its own meme, but people took it further than the original, hopping out of a car and dancing to the song while the vehicle is still moving.

The challenge has also been popularized by celebrities including Will Smith, Kevin Hart and Odell Beckham Jr. There have been more than 2 million tweets related to the dance, according to Twitter.

--With assistance from Siraj Datoo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Tarek El-Tablawy

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