A group of “rich kids” throwing a party in a garage in Melbourne has managed to go viral and divide the internet – and now things have taken a nasty turn.
The videos managed to go viral after the TikTok algorithm began throwing multiple points of view from the same event on people’s FYP over the Christmas break, racking up millions of views between them.
It has resulted in parodies, piss-takes and people scratching their heads trying to work out whether it’s cool or cringe.
The location of the now-infamous ‘garage sesh’ was added as a tourist destination on Google Maps, prompting some local gronks to deface the building with homophobic slurs.
Per Pedestrian, a now-deleted TikTok video showed footage of phrases including “FITROY FAGGOTS” and “TIKTOK GAY CUNTS” scrawled across the garage door.
The whole thing began innocently enough, with multiple TikTok videos of the same event landing on FYPs across the globe, prompting some to question things like, “Why is this the second tok of this I’ve gotten in the past five mins when I’m in NY?”
Users Mitchell O’Leary and Andrew Davie were two of the revellers whose clips garnered millions of views.
@jumbleteeth
@jumbleteeth A few more angles for all of you nice people asking for them 🤍 #garageparty #melbourne #fitzroy #garage
@andydavie the vibes are here #melbourne
The phenomenon left many scratching their heads, with The Guardian‘s culture section striving to answer: “What is a Fitzroy garage party and why has it been going for days?” while the Sydney Morning Herald analysed how it “cracked the TikTok algorithm”.
“Seemed like a good, if cringe time,” the publication wrote. “Prayer hands, vintage outfits, head shaves, the boys doing their little dancey-dances for each other (and the ubiquitous cameras).”
Melbourne TikToker @livhalliwell defended the guys in the videos.
“As much as it is cringe, I think because they are male we are just not used to men making content like this,” she wrote. “If girls (and we do), do this, no-one says anything. I can say with no shame if the vibes look shit I will literally tell my friends to ‘look’ more fun.”
News.com.au referred to Sydney-based solicitor Jahan Kalantar, who posted a 60-second “explainer” on the whole saga to his own TikTok.
“Fitzroy is an interesting suburb from Melbourne, it’s a suburb that traditionally had very working class roots, but seems to have been gentrified substantially,” Kalantar said.“The reason the comments are so vitriolic is that a lot of people are saying that this house party represents everything that’s wrong with house parties.”
He added these were “rich kids” who were “playing poor” for clout.
“Colloquially what we call champagne socialists,” he explained. “People from wealthy suburbs who play it being poor for some sort of brownie points.”
