The Australian teen dubbed ‘Egg Boy’ after smashing an egg on Queensland Senator Fraser Anning’s head has broken his silence for the first time since the incident.
Will Connolly, 17, from Melbourne, shot to internet fame last week after egging the right-wing politician over his comments on Muslim immigration moments after the Christchurch massacre.
In his first public appearance on Network 10’s The Project on Monday night, Connolly has weighed in on the incident, admitting he was wrong to egg the senator and even revealed he has been called ‘Egg Boy’ since high school.
‘I understand what I did was not the right thing to do,’ he told host Hamish MacDonald.
‘However, this egg has united people and, you know, money has been raised, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised for those victims.’
Will Connolly, also known as ‘Egg Boy’ addressed the egging incident for the first time during an appearance on The Project on Monday night
The 17-year-old shot to internet fame after he was captured on video smashing an egg on Queensland Senator Fraser Anning’s head in Melbourne on March 16
The controversial incident was captured on video at the Conservative National Party meeting in Moorabbin, Melbourne on March 16 and quickly went viral.
After the egging, Connolly was smacked in the face twice by Senator Anning and was tackled to the ground and put in a choke-hold by four of the senator’s supporters.
The debacle led him to become an internet sensation overnight spawning thousands of memes, calls for him to be the next Prime Minister and free life-time entry to gigs by major Australian bands. A street artist in Melbourne even painted a mural in his honour.
Connolly’s supporters also launched a GoFundMe page for his legal fees that has since raised nearly $80,000 – which he plans to donate to the families of the victims.
‘I’ve had one lady reach out to one of my friends in Christchurch and she said to me that throughout this period of darkness in her life was the one time since she smiled since the tragedy and that, I’m speechless,’ Connolly added.
The teen, however, has admitted his newfound fame has been ‘kinda embarrassing’ and said he was not expecting Anning to react the way he did.
‘I didn’t expect him to react, I thought I was just going to walk out there. I didn’t think this was going to blow up,’ Connolly said.
‘In fact, it’s blown up completely out of proportion to the point it’s kinda embarrassing because too much attention has actually been brought away from the real victims suffering, we should be focusing on them.’
He said the whole thing was ‘meant to be a few laughs’ for his mates.
When asked about his new nickname, Connolly revealed ‘Egg Boy’ stems back to his time in high school.
‘I just prefer Will, Egg Boy’s getting pretty annoying to be honest,’ he said.
‘Well funnily enough, I was actually called ‘Egg Boy’ before this happened as I’d eat boiled eggs at lunch and all the girls would be like “get away from me that reeks.’
Senator Fraser Anning later defended physically lashing out at the teenage boy who publicly egged him saying it’s what ‘most sensible people would do’
Last week, the embattled senator said during a press conference that he did not regret striking back at the boy stating his reaction was how ‘most sensible’ would react.
‘I turned around and defended myself, I think that’s what most people, most sensible people would do,’ he said during a radio interview.
When asked if he was bothered that the boy was receiving praise for his actions, Anning said: ‘No, it doesn’t worry me too much. People have their own opinions, they have the right to express them, they just don’t have the right to attack you.
Connolly, 17, (pictured) was tackled to the ground after cracking an egg on Senator Anning in a press conference in Melbourne on Saturday and filmed it for the world to see
Twitter erupted with praise of Egg Boy with many creating ‘fan art’ to show they stand with the 17-year-old
The 17-year-old boy who smashed an egg on the back of Senator Fraser Anning’s head has been honoured with an enormous mural in a Melbourne lane way
‘I’m sure he will be [reprimanded], yeah. He needs to be, otherwise he’ll grow up to be a person who’ll do it again and again, probably. If he thinks he can get away with it.’
The boy admitted the attack was in response to Anning’s controversial tweet following the New Zealand mass shooting on Friday in which he linked Muslim immigration to violence in the country.
During the interview, Fraser said he did in fact condemn the shooting but maintained that countries with Muslim immigration have seen an increase of ‘terrorist attacks’ and violence.
‘A lot of people have been listening to the left-wing media, in my press release I’ve utterly opposed any form of violence in the community and totally condemned the actions of the gunman,’ he said.