Former NFL star and current Montreal Alouettes Chad Johnson seems to be having a little trouble reading French-language parking signs, and is looking to the city’s mayor for help.
Early Tuesday, the player formerly known as Chad Ochocinco tweeted at Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, saying he’s racking up parking tickets because he can’t understand the street signs.
@DenisCoderre Denis, I love you but I'm having trouble with parking tickets, most of the parking signs are in french, I've 15 tickets. Help
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) July 8, 2014
The tweet received 70 re-tweets and 58 favourites within a couple of hours.
Coderre had yet to respond by mid-morning. Johnson later tweeted at Coderre asking that he follow him back so they can make arrangements “to talk over cigars at Stogies & fix my ticket situation. I love you Mr. Coderre.”
In another tweet, Johnson said he only gets tickets outside Stogies, McDonald’s and Starbucks.
One Montrealer tweeted at Johnson to ask why he can’t learn a few words of French to avoid such problems.
@ochocinco @DenisCoderre So you can learn a playbook but can't learn 7 words of French? lundi=Monday, mardi=Tuesday, etc. c'mon man
— Mathieu Rompré (@mathieurompre) July 8, 2014
Johnson re-tweeted the man by saying that he "came here for love," and then replied directly to him in rough French to say that it’s “too early to be negative.”
Je suis ici pour l'amour, je t'aime RT @mathieurompre: U can learn a playbook but can't learn 7 words of French? lundi=Monday, mardi=Tuesday
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) July 8, 2014
Johnson is trying to revive his football career in Montreal after an 11-year NFL career, much of that spent with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Over 166 career games, he caught 766 passes for more than 11,000 yards and 67 touchdowns. He’s been out of the NFL since 2011, when he was charged with a domestic battery offence.
Johnson signed a two-year deal with the Alouettes earlier this year.
