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Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said that because no one is suggesting Drake is breaking the law by wearing the support gear, it would be inappropriate for the force to comment.

“I will leave it up to others to comment on his clothing choices,” Pugash said.

Asked about the Drake photo, Rick Ciarniello, a Hells Angels spokesman in B.C., said only: “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.”

Requests for comment from Drake’s publicist and agent weren’t returned.

Houghton said he believes there is no way Drake put the hoodie on without realizing what message he was sending.

“You’d have to have been living under a rock, especially back east, to not know who the Hells Angels are,” he said.

Houghton said he was also concerned by Drake’s use of the No. 81 in a verse of his song ‘God’s Plan’, which some people believe is a reference to Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points against the Raptors during a game in 2006, but which others believe is a nod to the gang: “Fifty Dub, I even got it tatted on me; 81, they’ll bring the crashers to the party; and you know me.”

Photo by Matthew Sherwood / PNG

Drake commented on the Scott photo from his own Instagram account, which has 46 million followers, with “Wow v v v rare 81 crashers,” suggesting Houghton’s interpretation of the lyric is accurate.

“For him to use the term ’81’, everyone knows that stands for ‘HA’,” Houghton said. “Their branding, the name, the death head, are used to intimidate, cause fear and all of that, which we and many other police agencies have talked about for many, many years.”