A fundraiser account for an employee of Red Baron who was accosted by a TikTok streamer whose whole account is based on pranks has managed to raise more than $100,000. In a now viral video that has been shared over and over across several social media platforms, the man, who is known only as Walt Z, was approached by an individual who pretended to steal money from him.
The person filming the video held out his phone to the worker and the Apple Pay transaction sound started to play. Viewers could easily tell it was a pre-recorded sound, but that wasn’t the case for Walt. “Thank you, bro, I just took $10,” the person filming the video said. The employee was not amused. He first responded calmly, but by the end of the video, he’s losing his temper.
When he was informed by the streamer that it was “just a joke,” the employee replied, “It’s not a joke to me, okay? My life is hard enough as it is.” After the video started garnering a lot of attention, on social media, a GoFundMe account was set up by Luke Oakenshield, who later clarified in the description that he did not know who the employee was.
“This fundraiser is about standing up for a working person who is busting their butt and should not have to fear losing stability because someone wanted content and clicks,” Oakenshield stated in the description. Whoever filmed the content has since deleted their account. A watermark on the video had read @thea.ctiveworld on it, but searches for the term on TikTok do not bring up any accounts associated with it, a report from Yahoo News said.
At the start of the clip, the person filming asks Walt what time it is, before proceeding to play the money trick on him. “Don’t mess with me right now, okay?” Walt says to the streamer. He then asked if he was being recorded. The employee then walked away and said he was going to report the individual recording him. As the person left the store they said to the employee, “Thank you for the $20.”
A person who was standing next to the individual filming piped up, saying, “You need to stop.” The employee loses his cool and starts yelling. “This is not a joke to me,” he said. “I’ve got kids at home that went to bed without me right now. I was supposed to be at home an hour ago, but I’m still out here working. Now I’m probably gonna get kicked out of the store because of you. Not funny.”
The person doing the filming said he was sorry, but that wasn’t cutting it for Walt. You’re not sorry, because you’ve got a smug look on your face. And you’re probably making money off of this. And I can’t even pay my g—-n mortgage. And I’ve got four kids at home,” he said. Following that revelation, the individual said he would leave the establishment.
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These kinds of prank videos have been around for a long time on social media. However, the internet did not find this particular clip funny at all. The video was met with widespread criticism, with many saying the actions of the person filming were unkind. “This broke me,” Sarah Fields, a GOP precinct chair based in Texas said in a response to the video.
Another account, AmericanPapaBear wrote in a post on X, “Leave the working man alone. He’s got enough on his plate.” Someone else wondered if this video finally meant the end of prank culture online and referred to the video as a “wake-up” call. Many public figures such as political commentator Benny Johnson, Collin Rugg, and other conservatives, shared the GoFundMe page for Walt and encouraged folks to donate. Walt Z and his family asked via Reddit that their privacy remain intact, but stated they are “blown away” by what is happening.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video