Teen who egged Fraser Anning reveals surprising origin of nickname
A teenager who egged an ultra-conservative Australian senator for his words over the New Zealand terrorist attack has admitted it was not the right thing to do.
More than a week after Will Connolly, 17, rose to fame for cracking an egg on the back of Senator Fraser Anning’s head in Melbourne, he says violence was not the answer.
“I understand what I did was not the right thing to do. I can understand why some people would react the way they did,” Will told Ten’s The Project on Monday night.
“There is no reason to physically attack anyone.”
Will also revealed the surprising origin of his ‘Egg Boy’ nickname, which he earned before he made headlines.
“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’,” he said.
“I am off the eggs now.”
Will was angered by the independent Queensland senator who said Muslim immigration contributed to the 50 deaths in the Christchurch massacres.
He attended Senator Anning’s political event on March 16 in the hope of forgiving him for his words in the wake of the terrorist attack, listening for an hour before he cracked.
“I thought the world should be supporting all those victims, giving them love and passion, and the senator released a statement which was pretty much a divisive hate speech blaming the victims for the attack. I was just flat-out disgusted,” Will said.
“I went in to listen to him for an hour to see if it would change my mind as I am a pretty forgiving person, in my mind I wanted to forgive him.
“Then he started saying some more things… which empowered me to egg him.”
While the teen understands what he did was wrong, he said the egg had united people including about $80,000 raised through a crowdfunding campaign.
He will donate the money to victims of Christchurch massacre.
Will will not pursue legal action against Senator Anning or his supporters who put him in a headlock, and he was interviewed and released by police without charge.
He said the egging has blown up and too much attention has been taken away from “the real victims suffering”.
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