Egg Boy is the nickname given to Will Connolly, a 17-year-old Australian who cracked a raw egg on the head of Senator Fraser Anning at a Melbourne press conference on March 16, 2019[4].

Where did Egg Boy come from?

The moment was filmed by Seven Network cameras in Moorabbin, Melbourne, and the nickname eggboy spread on Twitter within hours after Australian users started using it in posts about the video[5].

What does Egg Boy mean?

Online, Egg Boy refers specifically to Will Connolly and, by extension, to the act of cracking an egg on a politician as a form of protest[3].

How do you use Egg Boy?

The clip is typically shared as a reaction to political statements users find offensive, and the name is invoked whenever a public figure gets confronted in public with a similar stunt[6].

Is Egg Boy still popular?

The original moment is a classic 2019 viral clip that still circulates when Fraser Anning or the Christchurch shooting come up in political conversation, though it is no longer trending[10].

Why did Egg Boy egg Fraser Anning?

Connolly said he did it because Anning had released a statement blaming the Christchurch mosque shooting on Muslim immigration, which the teen described as divisive hate speech[6].

Did Egg Boy get in trouble?

Police issued Connolly an official caution but did not charge him, and Gordon Legal represented him pro bono, so he had no legal fees[10].

How much money did Egg Boy raise?

Two GoFundMe pages set up in his name pulled in $99,922.36 AUD, which Connolly transferred to the Christchurch Foundation and Victim Support on May 28, 2019[8].

What happened to Fraser Anning?

Anning was voted out of the Australian Senate at the country's May 18, 2019 general election, and police opted not to charge him for punching Connolly, accepting a self-defence argument[10].

What is Egg Boy's real name?

His real name is Will Connolly, a Melbourne teenager who was 17 years old at the time of the egging[3].

Egg Boy

2019viral videoclassic

Egg Boy is the nickname given to 17-year-old Australian teenager Will Connolly, who cracked an egg on the head of Senator Fraser Anning at a Melbourne press conference on March 16, 2019. The moment was filmed live and went viral within hours, turning Connolly into an internet folk hero after Anning blamed the Christchurch mosque shooting on Muslim immigration.

accidental fame memes australian memes political satire memes protest memes viral photo memes

Overview

Egg Boy is the nickname the internet gave to Will Connolly, a 17-year-old from Melbourne who walked up behind Australian Senator Fraser Anning at a press conference on March 16, 2019 and smashed a raw egg on the back of his head1. Anning immediately spun around and punched Connolly in the face twice before bystanders wrestled the teen to the ground3. The whole thing was caught on live TV by Seven Network cameras and spread across Twitter in a matter of hours2.

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The stunt was a direct response to a statement Anning had released the previous day, in which he blamed the Christchurch mosque shooting on Muslim immigration4. That framing turned the egging into something bigger than a teenage prank, and Connolly quickly became known online as Egg Boy, eggboy or Eggboi5. The nickname stuck fast enough that within 24 hours it was a worldwide trending hashtag on Twitter5.

What kept Egg Boy in the news past the initial viral cycle was what Connolly did with the money raised in his name. A GoFundMe campaign set up to cover his legal fees and to buy more eggs pulled in nearly $100,000 AUD, and Connolly ended up donating all of it to victims of the Christchurch attack8.

How It Spread

The egging clip did the numbers on Twitter that same weekend, and the eggboy hashtag started trending worldwide5. Remix edits followed almost immediately. YouTuber Mashd N Kutcher uploaded a musical remix of the egg smash that pulled 51,000 views within two days, and Australian journalist Paul Barry shared footage of Connolly being restrained on the ground, which racked up 2.5 million views over the same window5. Artist Sebi White put a t-shirt design featuring Connolly's likeness on Instagram, promising to donate the proceeds to the Christchurch Shooting Victims Fund5.

Mainstream outlets picked it up fast. CBS, CNN, NBC, Newsweek and Time all filed pieces within days of the egging3 4 6. A GoFundMe titled "Money for EggBoi" was set up on March 16 to cover legal fees and, per the campaign copy, more eggs9. It hit its $50,000 target quickly, a figure the organiser said was chosen in homage to the 50 people killed in Christchurch9. By the following Monday, donations had climbed past 80,000 Australian dollars6.

On March 22, 2019, Connolly sat down with Network 10's The Project for his first television interview since the egging7. He told hosts Waleed Aly and Hamish Macdonald that egging Anning was not the right thing to do, but that the moment had united people and helped raise money for the victims6. The clip went out on Twitter on March 25 and pulled 218,000 views in 24 hours7. Two months later, on May 28, 2019, Connolly posted on Instagram that he had transferred $99,922.36 to the Christchurch Foundation and Victims Support after Gordon Legal represented him pro bono, meaning he had no legal fees to cover8. The Instagram post picked up 93,000 likes in a day and was covered by BBC, CNN, NBC and Mashable10.

How to Use This Meme

Egg Boy typically shows up in political discourse as a shorthand for the idea of confronting a public figure with a small, mostly harmless gesture rather than debate. Common uses include remix edits set to music, still images of the moment of impact used as reaction images, and the phrase eggboy itself deployed as a compliment when someone else pulls off a similar stunt in public. Australian commenters often invoke the name when a politician gets heckled, egged or milkshaked in the street6.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (10)

Egg Boy

2019viral videoclassic

accidental fame memes australian memes political satire memes protest memes viral photo memes