Walt Z’s pizza near me moment turned into a fast-moving fundraiser after a prank video showed him confronting someone who pretended to steal $10 while he was stocking frozen pizzas. By Friday morning, Oct. 30, the GoFundMe on his behalf had climbed to $480,000, a surge that came in just days.
Walt said he was not looking for attention. Still, the video pushed him into it, and he used the fundraiser page to thank people who donated, shared it, or left a kind message.
Walt Z and Gofundme
The original video, posted and later deleted by @thea.ctiveworld, also known as ThreeOfAKind, showed a prankster approaching Walt to ask for the time. When Walt pulled out his phone, the prankster played a sound meant to mimic an Apple Pay transaction and said he had taken $10 from him.
Walt answered sharply: “I'm not in the mood for this crap right now.” He then said, “You think this is funny don't you?” and added, “It's not a joke to me.”
He told the prankster, “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.” He also said he was supporting four children and struggling to pay his mortgage, details that give the video its emotional weight without changing the basic fact of what happened: a joke landed on a working parent already under pressure.
Red Baron Pizza on X
Red Baron said on X that employee of the month nominations were closed after the viral video and that the worker was identified as Walt Z. On Thursday, Oct. 30, the company posted, “He's still here. He's got a fan club. Including us.”
Walt later wrote on the GoFundMe page that he was grateful for the support and that he and his family were doing well. He said he had been keeping things private to protect their privacy and was receiving a lot of interview requests.
He also said, “I'm considering sharing my story. Before making that decision, I want to make sure it's with people who will treat me and my family with care and respect our privacy.” That leaves the story at a practical fork: the money has already arrived, but Walt still controls whether his side of the video becomes fully public.
