Posted on 11/01/2026 12:41:37 AM PDT by Morgana
The GoFundMe campaign for the Michigan Red Baron Pizza worker, the target of a social media prank at a grocery store, has taken an unexpectedly pleasant turn. The fundraiser, started by Luke Oakenshield for Red Baron employee Walt Z, just received a whopping $38k from Vivek Ramaswamy, the American entrepreneur and politician.
Vivek and Apoorva Ramaswamy's contribution is listed as the top donation on Walt Z's GoFundMe page. According toThe Detroit News, the campaign had raised over $500,000 by October 30. And the total climbed to $655,943 through 18.3k donations, including the $38k donation from Vivek and Apoorva Ramaswamy.
Luke Oakenshield started a GoFundMe for Red Baron pizza worker Walt Z. A video shared on X and other social media platforms revealed that a streamer pranked Walt Z by pretending to steal $10 from him. The prankster approached Walt Z while he was busy stocking pizzas at a grocery store and held their phones together to mimic an Apple Pay transaction. The prankster even played a sound effect on his device, making Walt Z believe the payment had gone through.
After learning the details of the prank, Walt Z lashed out in the video. Fearing that he might lose his job, he said:
"This is not a joke to me. My life is hard enough as it is. I have kids at home that went to bed without me. I was supposed to be at home an hour ago, and I’m still out here working.”
The video went viral on social media and resulted in Luke Oakenshield's GoFundMe, titled Support a Harassed Red Baron Worker. While Oakenshield does not know the employee personally, he set up the campaign to help him and his family:
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
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Jim
He should go back to school using some of that money. I think part of that rage is due to his job as a “Michigan Red Baron Pizza worker” and this could be his ticket upward.
IN our lefty dominated bizarro pizza world, the maxim is: “ Let no good deed go unpunished.”
Vivek tried to do a good thing....hope he did.
Can he buy some votes that way? For Ihio’s sake, I hope so+
Or he had a good UAW job and autopen destroyed it. Look - i am terminally degreed - you are not going to get me to say education isn’t a good option - or even the best - but it’s not for everybody. He has a wife, kids, and a mortgage. Quitting and going back to school may not be the best option and may not be his preferred option. But I hope he pays off his mortgage, pays off any remaining debt, and puts the rest in education savings for his kids.
You go, Walt Z.
Pay off that mortgage, put your kiddo’s educations in a trust and take some time to figure out next steps.
Keep doing what you are doing? Maybe less stressful work? Maybe something to pay it forward? Up to you, sir.
How much income tax will he have to pay on that?
I have friends who owned a moderately successful retail business. They sold it and then went to work for a company whose employees stock bread, and they made more money. Plus, none of the headaches of being paperwork, employee issues, etc.
“He should go back to school using some of that money.”
That’s right! Within a year he’ll announce that he’s trans, will ditch his family, shack up with a guy, have a man bun, and carry “F**K TRUMP” signs at protests.
I wanna know what happened to the kid who stole his money ... did he get arrested? Did somebody beat the shiite of him and break his phone? No consequences means no learning from a mistake.
Hopefully the perp at least learned that filming a crime and posting the evidence on the i-net is beyond stupid. Unfortunately I am of the opinion that the current crop of Gen-Zs and gen-Alphas are not that smart.
“I wanna know what happened to the kid who stole his money “
I only heard that he had been shamed so badly that he took down his post — and possibly his whole site. It would be nice if there could be stronger consequences, but I don’t see how.
He did not really take any money, this is a common prank on youtube.
He did not really take any money, this is a common prank on youtube.
“Can he buy some votes that way? For Ihio’s sake, I hope so+”
I predict that some lefty judge will decree that Vivek must rescind his donation. Something to do with buying votes, probably.
“there is only one unpardonable sin--deliberate cruelty. All else can be forgiven.” ― Truman Capote, The Thanksgiving Visitor
Was he named?
Will there be confiscatory taxes on that money?
I really hate “Tik-Tokers”. Cruel, cruel, cruel. Unforgivable. It reminds me of Truman Capote’s take:
“there is only one unpardonable sin—deliberate cruelty. All else can be forgiven.” ― Truman Capote, The Thanksgiving Visitor
.......
In a group reading Dante.
Cruelty of that nature is relegated to one of the divisions of the 9th circle of hell.
Still believe in the magic of school?
Even most trades function best with OJT and a test.
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