The lads behind the Fitzroy Garage Sesh video have been recognised for their virality at this year’s TikTok Awards, proving that you can be praised for party rocking.
Earlier this week, influencers, comedians, foodies and anyone who thrives in the Aussie TikTok sphere gathered in Sydney for the 2023 TikTok Awards.
Surprisingly, one of the many talents to be recognised at the highly coveted internet awards was the boys who were responsible for the Fitzroy Garage Sesh video, Andrew ‘Andy’ Davie and Jordan Menadue — Davie being the bloke who looked like he was praying and Menadue being the other bloke who was smacking the garage door.
Surprisingly, the cheeky Fitzroy party nabbed the boys a Video of the Year award for 2023. Pretty fucking huge if you ask me. Especially for a vid that could’ve been an IG or Snapchat Story.
During their acceptance speech, Davie and Menadue decided to take aim at folks who’ve attempted to drag them for their video.
“It definitely was pretty crazy, we didn’t think that it would get the traction that it did,” Menadue began.
“Don’t let other people’s comments or opinions stop you from being yourself. Just keep doing what you love and that’s all that matters.”
Davie then took the podium to “extend [his] gratitude” to friends and family.
“If there’s anything we could take away from it is no matter what you post, there’s gonna be somebody who says something negative about it,” Davie said.
“So just post that video. It can take you to unimaginable heights.”
You see when the video first dropped, the lads copped a shit ton of backlash. Of course, there were folks who threw creative insults at the group, describing them as a “nightmare blunt rotation” and implying they’re a group of icks.
But there were also other creators, such as @Sagg.i, who described the video as “performative” and “awkward”. Some creators also pointed out that it was “cringy” and linked the video to the “gentrification” of Fitzroy. Things got even more awkies for the sesh boys when Mitchell O’Leary, one of the lads involved in the video, told Vice Australia that he’d never heard of the word “gentrification” before.
The hate got so bad that someone vandalized the Fitzroy garage sesh garage with homophobic slurs.
On the TikTok Awards red carpet, the broskis spoke with PEDESTRIAN.TV and reflected on how they made the viral video.
“It was Jordan’s birthday. It was a couple of lads getting around Fitzroy,” Davie told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“One of our — his mate’s properties, and that’s pretty much it. And people decided to label it other things.”
Menadue added that it was “honestly just some pres with some mates”.
Honestly, these lads literally getting an award for having a bevy, posting some funky tunes and going viral has me cackling.
I wonder what award I would get if I posted some of my kick-ons… Mmmmm, I think TikTok would ban me from the platform if I did that. Woops.
