This past weekend, an Australian teen became famous online. His quick ascendence, in fact, has raised tens of thousands of dollars–which he says he’ll give to the victims of the New Zealand mosque shooting.
The 17-year-old, named Will Connolly, walked into an event featuring the far right-wing Australian politician Fraser Anning and threw a raw egg at him while he spoke. Anning had made comments blaming immigration for the tragedy at the Queensland, New Zealand, mosque last week.
Connolly, along with others, filmed the public egging. And it was something to behold.
Someone has just slapped an egg on the back of Australian Senator Fraser Anning’s head, who immediately turned around and punched him in the face. @politicsabc @abcnews pic.twitter.com/HkDZe2rn0X
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) March 16, 2019
As soon as Connolly hurled the ovoid object, Anning took a swing at the teen. The politician’s minions tackled Connolly, put him in a chokehold, and then the teen was arrested. During the brief moments Connolly was detained by police, his video went viral. People referred to him as “egg boy,” and images of him throwing the egg were shared far and wide.
Our young hero has spoken “don’t egg a politician, you’ll tackled by 30 bogans at the same time, I learnt the hard way. Fuck” ???? we Stan #Eggboy Will Connolly, nonetheless ???????? pic.twitter.com/nAUDuKSMP0
— ☀️ (@chuseeme) March 16, 2019
Now, in the days following his meteoric rise, people have begun raising money for Egg Boy. A GoFundMe campaign with a $50,000 goal says it’s raising the money for both legal fees and “more eggs.” Already, it’s raised over $47,000–and will likely meet the goal in a matter of hours.
Egg Boy has already said that he doesn’t plan on taking the money. The New Zealand Herald reports that Connolly said he will give most of the money raised to the victims of the mosque attack. Connolly was released without charges, so it’s doubtful he’ll have many legal fees to deal with.
In today’s scary and awful world, it’s at least a little heartening to see that some of the kids are alright.