3500 Cosplayers Break World Record For Largest Smurf Gathering, Despite Coronavirus

Talk about a profile in Smurfage.

Shortly before France instituted a ban that disallowed public gatherings of more than 1,000 people in order to slow the spread of coronavirus, fans of the long-running comic and cartoon series The Smurfs got together to break a world record. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,500 hardcore Smurfers assembled in costume to shatter the record for the largest Smurf gathering since the dawn of Smurf time.

There is even video footage to prove it:

“There’s no risk — we’re Smurfs!” says one giddy attendee in the video. Personally, I would never say something like this, because it basically sounds like a dare to the coronavirus, but hey — I also wouldn’t dress as a Smurf in the first place, so clearly my priorities should be questioned from the bottom up.

The Smurfs — or Les Schtroumpfs in French — were created in 1958 by Belgian comic artist Peyo. They’ve since spread across the globe in much the same way as a virus, expanding their reach into other mediums like film, television, and video games. The most recent movie, Smurfs: The Lost Village, grossed $197 million worldwide in 2017.

Another attendee in the video above vows that the throng will “Smurferise the coronavirus!” to which I would like to respectfully reply: Hurry the f— up.

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