Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz became the first American victim of “milkshaking,” a British anti-right wing protest trend that has targeted numerous conservatives and Brexit cheerleaders.
Gaetz was exiting a town hall in Pensacola, Florida when he was hit by a flying milkshake.
A woman named Amanda Leigh Kondrat’yev was arrested and charged with battery later that day, according to WEAR-TV.
The Pensacola News Journal reported that Kondrat’yev ran against Gaetz for his seat in 2016.
“Clearly it takes more than a drink to slow down our great team,” Gaetz tweeted after the incident.
Gaetz later complained that local news outlets were “glorifying” his “assault” and said it showed that the mainstream media was “truly becoming an #EnemyOfThePeople.”
Milkshaking goes global:
Gaetz is the first known American victim of the milkshaking trend, which recently also claimed Brexit huckster Nigel Farage.
Farage was hit by a milkshake while leaving a campaign stop last month. His attacker was arrested and charged with assault.
One conservative, controversial far-right candidate Carl Benjamin, was hit with a milkshake four times in just one week.
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson threw punches after he was on the receiving end of a milkshaking.
Milo Yiannopoulos was hit with a milkshake too.
The trend has become so viral that McDonald’s has decided not to sell milkshakes when there is a Brexit rally nearby.
Burger King took a different approach.
“We're selling milkshakes all weekend,” the company’s British Twitter account tweeted. “Have fun.''
