Daniel D’Aloisio is getting a devilish amount of attention from across Canada.
He says support has been pouring in since Global News revealed the Ontario government wants to deep six his personalized licence plate due to a complaint from someone who interpreted it as offensive.
The plate reads “VI6SIX,” which one complainant interpreted as meaning “666” or the “mark of the beast.”
READ MORE: Ontario man ordered to remove licence plate deemed offensive by government
“I had one guy pull up beside me, pointing his finger and yelling, ‘Don’t you give back that plate, it’s yours,'” said D’Aloisio.
D’Aloisio’s father died when he was young and the letters and numbers are hockey references, related to Mario Lemieux’s jersey number (66) and the Montreal Canadiens (D’Aloisio and his father celebrated six wins together).
“It was a memorial for my life with my father,” he said.
There’s been a lot of humour from supporters, including comparisons to a 1977 movie “The Car,” about a murderous, driverless attack car.
Jokes aside, there are plenty of standard Ontario plates out there that include “666.”
The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services said about 20,000 of them were issued, but all before 2010 when a policy change was made on what is accepted.
The Ministry could not say how many of the triple six plates are still on the road, but there have been no complaints about those plates according to a spokesperson.
“I just think the whole thing is silly and the ministry needs to review their process and how they deem what’s appropriate and inappropriate,” responded D’Aloisio.
There are triple six’s everywhere in Ontario.
The government-run LCBO, sells Route 666 beer.
A Go Train engine bears the number 666.
GO Transit said there have been no complaints, just one customer suggestion that they rename it “The Beast.”
There were no signs of demons at 666 Spadina Ave. either.
WATCH: Ontario man ordered to remove licence plate deemed offensive by government
The ministry has come up with a new configuration “V1E6SIX,” but D’Aloisio said he isn’t interested, because he had specific reasons for choosing the letters and numbers he did 15 years ago.
“For a stranger in the government to call and say, ‘Change it to this,’ I took a little bit of offence to that,” he said, adding he’s still hoping the ministry will see the light.
But amid all the uproar, D’Aloisio points out that he drives the car to church every Sunday — with no problem.