Red Baron Floats Employee of the Month for Accosted Worker, Fundraiser Grows - Newsweek

Red Baron has floated making an accosted worker who has gone viral Employee of the Month.

The pizza chain shared in a post on X: “He’s still here. He’s got a fan club. Including us.”

The post, which has been viewed more than 4.5 million times, was accompanied by a red and white graphic, which read “Employee of the month nominations are closed.”

The post comes as a fundraiser for the Red Baron employee who was accosted by a social media prankster while at work has raised more than $450,000.

Video footage, which has been widely shared across social media platforms, shows a man, so far only identified as Walt Z, being approached by someone who pretended to steal money from him.

The employee did not find the trick funny and, after first responding calmly, lost his temper and said: “You’re probably making money off of this. And I can’t even pay my goddamn mortgage. And I’ve got four kids at home.”

The video footage has resonated widely with people online, as many Americans continue to grapple with a high cost of living, and people struggle to get by.

Newsweek has contacted the organizer of the fundraiser for comment via GoFundMe, and CJ Schwan's, Red Baron's parent company, for comment via email.

In the viral video, Walt Z is approached by someone while he is at work, who pretends to steal money from him.

The person filming held their phone out to the employee’s phone after asking him for the time, and played the Apple Pay transaction sound. From the perspective of the viewer, it is clear that the sound is pre-recorded; it wasn’t clear for the employee.

When the person filming says, “I just took $10,” the employee does not take the joke, and while he first responds calmly, he loses his temper at the end of the video, sharing the difficulties of his current situation.

The increasingly agitated employee said that he was late leaving work and had been unable to put his children to bed, and was due back at work at 5 a.m.

“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,” he shouted.

And while prank videos are nothing new, this one hit a nerve online, particularly among conservatives.

Sarah Fields, a journalist and Republican precinct chair in Texas, wrote in a post on X viewed over 9 million times: “This broke me.”

Meanwhile, the social media user @AmericanPapaBear wrote in a post on X viewed over 2 million times: "There's a guy like him in every grocery store in America, grinding through the shift nobody sees. Turning one of them into the punchline isn't edgy. It's lazy.”

But the story quickly had a happy ending, as donations to the GoFundMe surged online.

Red Baron has been widely praised for its social media post in response to the incident, which came after concerns that the employee may lose his job.

The GoFundMe set up for the employee by a man named Luke Oakenshield, who clarified that he did not know him personally, said in the description: “There is real concern that this hardworking person could lose their job because of a situation they did not create.”

In the context of those concerns, Red Baron’s Employee of the Month suggestion and confirmation that the man is still employed has been positively received.

Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett responded to Red Baron’s post on X: “I’ll be buying @rebaronpizza from now on.”

Monica Crowley, Ambassador and Chief of Protocol of the United States, responded “Bravo,” on X.

Meanwhile, Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet wrote in a post on X viewed over 190,000 times: “Love this. This is your feel good story of the day. Four kids. Working his tail off to take care of his family and do things the right way. Good for Red Baron for having their employees’ backs.”

As of Friday morning, the GoFundMe has raised over $450,000. There have been more than 13,000 donations.

A recently shared post on the Reddit thread r/RedBaronWorker, which was set up to try to find the worker, said that Walt Z and his family “are requesting privacy at this time.” It added that they are “blown away” by what is happening.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Tony Phillips.