The Australian teenager known as 'Egg Boy' says his notorious attack on Queensland senator Fraser Anning united people in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks.
The moment a young man broke an egg on Australian Senator Fraser Anning's head. Photo: Supplied.
The 17-year-old, who identified himself as Will, cracked an egg on the head of Mr Anning at a media conference last week.
The senator responded by punching the youth in the face twice and his supporters tackled the boy to the ground.
Social media admirers of the Melbourne teenager have since offered him a Ferrari and a five-star holiday in Turkey - although others have cautioned against condoning any form of political violence.
Will himself said he originally attended senator Anning's meeting "to see if he could change my mind".
"After that tragedy in Christchurch, I thought the world should be supporting all those victims," he said.
"And the senator released a statement that was pretty much a divisive hate speech blaming the victims for the attack - and I was just flat-out disgusted.
"I actually went in there to listen to him for an hour to see if he could change my mind. I'm a pretty forgiving person and in my mind I wanted to forgive him, but then he started saying some more things."
The teenager denied he was affiliated with any political party or activist group, saying he was "pro-humanity".
He said he did not expect the senator to react to the incident, which he believes has been blown "completely out of proportion", and maintained the stunt was intended to be "a few laughs with some mates".
"There's no reason to physically attack anyone", he said, adding that he could "understand why some people reacted the way they did".
While conceding his decision to egg the Queensland senator "was not the right thing to do", the teenager then doubled down on his actions, pointing to an online fundraiser - originally started to bankroll his legal fees - that has now raised in excess of $75,000.
"This egg has united people and money has been raised, tens of thousands of dollars has been raised for those victims," he said.
"It's going to help people affected by the tragedy in Christchurch, every cent."
When queried on his newfound moniker, the unlikely internet sensation revealed he had actually been dubbed 'Egg Boy' prior to the egging.
"I'd eat boiled eggs at lunch and all the girls would be like 'get away from me, that reeks'," he joked.
"I'm off the eggs now, officially off the eggs."
- ABC