Fan Tosses a Dr. Simi Doll to Paquita La del Barrio During Her Concert and Her Reaction Was Epic
If you don’t yet know about the Dr. Simi craze, here’s a crash course: Dr. Simi dolls are doctor plushies that are otherwise known as the official mascot of Mexican pharmacy chain Farmacias Similares. With a white mustache, a doctor’s coat and a cute smile, Dr. Simi is admittedly pretty adorable — so much so, that he’s managed to meet some of the biggest celebrities on the planet.
While the Dr. Simi doll has been around for a while, famously representing the pharmacy chain’s head Víctor González Torres, it has achieved a certain cult status as of late. Why? Fans have begun to throw Dr. Simi dolls onstage at their favorite musicians’ concerts, and as you can expect, celebrities have reacted in all kinds of unexpected ways.
The phenomenon can be traced back to Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora’s concert at Corona Capital in Mexico City back in November 2021. As shown in a video of her performance (fast-forward to 29:16!), a fan throws a Dr. Simi doll onstage — and Aurora picks it up, smiles wholeheartedly, embraces the doll, and puts it back down. She laughs, clutching her heart, and dives in straight to her hit song “Runaway”: a truly iconic moment.
After that Dr.Simi-Aurora encounter, fans went on to repeat the gesture at countless other concerts— most recently at Paquita la del Barrio’s performance at Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day last week. As reported by Monclova, a fan threw a Dr. Simi doll onstage as a gift to the “Ni Tú Ni Yo” singer, who quickly began to smile and laugh.
Talking to the audience from her chair onstage (the singer suffered thrombosis and cannot stand for too long), she stated, “Pin*** doll… No, it’s nice!” Explaining that she’s actually a fan of Dr. Simi, she told the audience a story: “I passed by a pharmacy and there was a man dressed up like him. I wanted to take a photo… but I couldn’t.”
That being said, the singer’s story has a happy ending now, because she finally got a Dr. Simi doll — and she’s definitely “keeping it.”
While Paquita la del Barrio clearly loved her Dr. Simi moment, not every celebrity has 100% felt the same way. For one, singer Alejandro Fernandez was criticized for kicking back a Dr. Simi doll thrown at him at his Potosina National Fair concert just last month. A TikTok video shows the singer smile down at the doll for a second, but then proceed to literally soccer kick it to the audience.
Fans on Twitter immediately began to talk about the moment, with one user writing that Fernandez “rejected” the treasured doll, and another even going so far as to call him a “mam**.” Even more people remembered other celebrities who haven’t been so happy to receive a Dr. Simi, such as Café Tacuba singer Rubén Albarrán, who famously ripped the doll’s head off onstage — really.
Albarrán explained, “The gesture is very nice, but I truly hate Doctor Simi, sorry, but thank you… you wanted blood.” He threw mutilated Dr. Simi pieces back at the audience, and the rest was rock history.
Other celebrities who probably haven’t loved getting a Dr. Simi doll? Lady Gaga, but her reason is valid: a fan threw the plushie straight at her head during her concert in Toronto last month.
The “Alejandro” singer didn’t seem to mind too much though, and Dr. Simi even made a “chameo” during her “Rain On Me” performance — we can’t stop laughing:
Tons of other singers continue to receive the plushies, like La Rosalía herself, who posted a photo with tons of Dr. Simi dolls after the Mexican leg of her “Motomami” tour. We counted at least 16 of them, all the while the “Con Altura” chanteuse looks as happy as ever.
As per Dallas News, other celebrities that have gotten Dr. Simi dolls of their own include The Strokes, My Chemical Romance, and Coldplay. In fact, Coldplay singer Chris Martin famously carried ol’ Doctor Simi on his shoulder, so it’s safe to say the whole world is obsessed with Mexico’s most famous médico extraordinaire.
