Milkshaking

[12] A few days later, Farage was reportedly trapped on his campaign bus after arriving in Kent to speak to supporters, as a group of people holding milkshakes watched nearby.

Congressman Matt Gaetz was reported to have been the first U.S. politician to be milkshaked, at a town hall event in Pensacola, Florida in June 2019, but the drink was later described as an unidentified "red liquid" by police.

[29] In the wake of the incident, the student who threw the milkshake at Barrett reportedly received targeted abuse and threats from far-right extremists.

[31] The Irish Council for Civil Liberties voiced concern after it was revealed that the Garda Síochána were engaged in the profiling of left-wing activist women in an attempt to identify the assailant.

[32] In June 2024, whilst campaigning as Reform UK's candidate in the Clacton constituency for the 2024 general election Nigel Farage was hit with a McDonald's banana milkshake thrown by a 25-year-old woman who was later arrested.

[36] Writing for The Independent, Kate Townshend said that whilst she was opposed to far right politics, "on the one hand, nobody should have to walk around in fear of having things thrown at them, but on the other, a temporarily milky face is also just not a satisfying redress".

[37] Josh Marshall wrote for Talking Points Memo that whilst he understood why the tactic had caught on, he disagreed with the practice, partly because he "wouldn't find it funny at all" if far right protestors milkshaked or pied liberal politicians, but also because "we place a great deal of societal importance on creating a line between words and physical autonomy...

[38] Ricky Gervais tweeted that whilst he was pro-Remain, he was opposed to throwing items at people he disagreed with: "that would mean I had run out of good arguments.

Writing for the New Statesman, Jonn Elledge argued that "it is far less violent than, say, promising to 'pick up a rifle' if Brexit is not delivered", as Farage had done in 2017, and that "the idea that throwing a milkshake is violence, but that inciting hate against minority groups isn't, is responsible for a decent-sized chunk of all the world's political problems".

He also highlighted the history of using "small and harmless projectiles" like eggs to being a sense of theatricality to political campaigning in Britain, holding that acts of milkshaking did not exceed this level of controversy.

[43] Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush, said, "Not many people are prepared to be jailed or tortured or face consequences for those types of actions" but did not consider milkshaking violent.