WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK, NY – A massive gathering of over 1,500 smokers descended upon washington Square Park last weekend for an impromptu, and ultimately dispersed, mass cigarette break, fueled by the social media presence of New York entertainer Terry.
The event, which drew a crowd ranging in age from 18 too 78, began with the playing of Survivor’s ”Eye of the Tiger” and chants of “Bob, Bob, Bob” – a nod to Terry’s online persona, “Breaking Bob.” Terry, a comedian and performer with experience in stage, television, and film, recently returned to New York from Los Angeles and is a member of the comedy collective Old Jewish men. he advertised the smoke break, promising a cigarette to anyone 18 or older.
“It was off the richter scale,” Terry said of the turnout, having distributed fliers promoting the event. The gathering quickly attracted attention, with onlookers like an NYU student asking, “What’s going on?” to which a smoker jokingly replied, ”It’s Conor mcgregor.” Terry himself gained recent viral attention for successfully completing a “Blind Cigarette Taste Test” viewed by 33 million people online.
The smoke break lasted approximately 30 minutes before being broken up by at least 20 NYPD officers.Despite the intervention, the crowd erupted in a chant of “One more cig, one more cig, one more cig,” prompting Terry to light up again as Frank Sinatra‘s “New york, New York” played.
While Guinness world Records does not currently recognize a record for the largest organized smoke break, the event highlights a resurgence of smoking in popular culture, particularly among younger generations. Terry acknowledges the health risks associated with smoking – it causes a host of deadly diseases, damaging the heart, lungs and other organs – but maintains, “I would [quit], but the stress would kill me,” adding that his doctors are surprised by the health of his lungs despite his habit.