The Australian senator Fraser Anning, who blamed the New Zealand massacre on Muslim immigration, got an egg cracked over his head on Saturday morning by a 17-year-old boy.
Video footage of the event shows the teenager position himself behind the senator during a news conference in Melbourne. The teen films with his phone in his left hand, and then calmly raises his right hand holding the egg and drops it down on Anning’s head. Anning responds by wheeling around and punching the teen in the face. His supporters then tackle the teen to the ground.
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
The boy was later taken by police and released without charge. The video quickly went viral, resulting in a GoFundMe page dedicated to “Our Hero Eggboi” with the goal of covering his legal fees and “buying more eggs.”
Anning’s Islamophobic comments in the wake of the shooting were widely condemned; Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his statement was “appalling” and announced that the government would censure the senator.
Update, 12:30pm: The egging teen broke his silence to speak to followers:
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