Ramaswamy among nearly $700K in donations for harassed Red Baron worker

An online fundraiser for a Red Baron Pizza employee in Michigan raised nearly $700,000 after the man was targeted in a viral online prank.

The nearly 20,000 donations on GoFundMe include a $38,000 from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (R) and his wife Apoorva, his campaign confirmed to The Hill Saturday.

In a viral video shared on social media, a man approaches the Red Baron employee, named Walt, with his cell phone. He holds it up to Walt and plays the sound emitted by an Apple device when making a purchase with Apple Pay, telling the employee that he just charged him $10 — but no funds are actually debited.

The stunt is part of an online trend where an individual approaches someone and pretends to charge them using mobile payment to elicit a reaction.

“It’s not a joke to me, okay? I don’t have time for this crap in my life, my life is hard enough as it is,” Walt said in the video. “Now I’m probably going to get kicked out of the store because of you … You’re probably making money off of this, and I can’t even pay my God—- mortgage, and I got four kids at home.”

Ramaswamy shared his support for Walt in a post to the social platform X.

“A hardworking dad with a mortgage & kids at home, struggling to make ends meet for his family. There are millions of Ohioans just like him & that’s who we’re fighting for,” Ramaswamy wrote. “We’re behind you, Walt.”

Walt’s fears of losing his job did not come to fruition either — Red Baron announced that he is their employee of the month.

“Employee of the month nominations are closed. You know why,” the company wrote in a post on X.

Walt responded on the GoFundMe page, thanking the donors and sharing the joy it has brought him and his family.

“My wife and I have been reading your posts and comments, and we’ve gone from being deeply moved to laughing until we can barely breathe. Some of you are seriously funny. I wasn’t expecting a comedy show in the middle of all this, but apparently the internet had other plans,” he wrote.

“I’m still finding my footing with all this attention, so bear with me,” he added. “My wife and I are also trying to keep everyday life steady for our kids. They didn’t sign up for an audience, and being their dad comes first.”