Arrested for dancing to Pharrell’s Happy.
Six Iranians are behind bars after they appeared in a fan video set to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” the American hit song that has sold millions of downloads worldwide.
Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia ordered the arrests of the three men and three women because they helped make an “obscene video clip that offended the public morals and was released in cyberspace,” the Iranian Student News Agency reported Wednesday.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani may think differently, if a post on his Twitter account is any indication.
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“#Happiness is our people’s right. We shouldn’t be too hard on behaviors caused by joy,” the post read in what appears to be a restatement of a Rouhani comment from 2013, based on a date accompanying the tweet.
Pharrell himself denounced the arrests.
“It is beyond sad that these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness,” the Grammy Award winner said on his Facebook page.
