Teen eggs an Australian official after his racist reaction to the New Zealand shooting

A cathartic moment of resistance against a source of hate in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 

UPDATE: March 18, 2019, 8:31 a.m. EDT Updated with information on the GoFundMe to raise money for the teen.


One Australian teen gave the world a much-needed moment of catharsis on Saturday, egging Australian senator Fraser Anning over his reaction to the horrific Christchurch, New Zealand mass shooting and taking a punch in the face for his efforts.

Video of the incident, showing the teen sliding up behind Anning while he spoke to reporters, immediately went viral. The teen splats an egg on the back of Anning's head, filming the whole thing with his phone, which prompted Anning to spin around and throw a punch at the kid.

The egging was almost certainly in response to Anning's awful statement to the New Zealand mosque shootings, which killed 49 people on Friday.

In the wake of the tragedy, Anning issued a statement directly blaming Muslim immigrants for the attacks, saying, "The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place."

The grotesque response, as well as statements he made on Saturday about the killer, are so steeped in Islamophobia and racism that a single egg seems far too kind. Punching the kid multiple times also seems like a poor response but here we are.

So now the teen, punch to the face and all, has quickly become the latest internet folk hero. There's even a GoFundMe fundraiser for the teen because of course there is. Aiming to raise $2,000 for him to pay any potential legal fees and "buy more eggs," it had eclipsed $5,000 by 11:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time Saturday morning. (On Monday, as the total amount approached $50,000, the teen said he would be donating most of the money to victims of the massacre).

And Twitter responded in kind, too.

According to media reports, the teen was released by police without any charges being filed.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned Anning's comments, tweeting that they "have no place in Australia."

In the wake of the attacks, several efforts are underway to support the local Muslim community in Christchurch, including one by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Following 2 hate-inspired shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 people, the Muslim community in Pittsburgh raised thousands of dollars in support.

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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