Yarra River Milk Prank

Overview

The Yarra River Milk Prank is a viral video of an online prankster, @giddynokiddy, pouring milk off the Evan Walker Bridge onto a group of women on a Go Boat on the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. The video went viral in late January 2024, along with a video taken by the victims of the prank showing their boat covered in milk, resulting in a search for the prankster. Days later, the prankster was purported to be from the elite private school Melbourne Grammar School. The prankster made a post to their now-deleted TikTok page asking people to stop reporting him because he's a minor, claiming he was facing expulsion.

Background

On January 27th, 2024, TikToker^[1] @veronicaburgess posted a video of several women covered in milk on a Go Boat on the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. Purportedly, they were celebrating one of the women's birthdays. The video is captioned, "Would love to find the kid that ruined our day :) Go Boat were lovely enough to give us a credit for another day." It garnered over 23.1 million views in four days (shown below).

On January 28th, u/th4tgen reuploaded the now-deleted video of the prankster, who goes by giddynokiddy, performing the prank to /r/ImTheMainCharacter,^[2] garnering over 7,100 upvotes in three days. The video, which is taken from Instagram, features the overlayed caption "milked 😈" (shown below). It was reposted to /r/melbourne^[3] that day, garnering over 3,900 upvotes in the same span of time.

Developments

On January 29th, u/UpperAd7961 posted a screenshot to /r/melbourne^[4] from one of giddynokiddy's social media pages where he posted, "please stop contacting my school, my school has caught me and i am facing expulsion. Can't believe you would do this to minor." In the comment section he tagged @veronicaburgess, the victim of the prank, writing, "why'd you do this to me. You ruin my life over a ruined day, you upped the anti, im just a kid and you ruined my life. Too far." The post gained over 18,000 upvotes in two days (shown below, left).

That day, the @VictoriaPolice X^[5] page announced that they were investigating the crime in a post, writing, "It is believed people in other vessels may have been subject to the same or similar behaviour," garnering over 50 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Later that day, 7News^[6] reported that Melbourne Grammar School, an "elite private school," was launching a probe into the prank, believing the culprit attends the school. Headmaster Philip Grutzner was quoted as saying:

“It has been reported to us yesterday that during the holiday break, a Melbourne Grammar School student was involved in an incident in which he and others unknown to the school threw eggs […] and milk was poured on people travelling in a boat on the Yarra River. We are treating the matter with the utmost seriousness and are in the process of investigating it. We will co-operate fully with the authorities in relation to any formal investigation that is launched. It may well be that here is a young boy who has made a dreadful mistake. If that is the case, we would take all necessary steps to improve his future behaviours."

Online Reactions

The story was reported on by the media as it developed, including by News.com.au.^[7][8] It also became notably popular on /r/melbourne. For example, on January 31st, a post about the story to /r/melbourne^[9] garnered over 12,200 upvotes in under a day. That day, a post was made to /r/OutOfTheLoop^[10] asking for details on the prank.

Search Interest

External References