Man in viral Google Maps image capturing street fight speaks out: ‘A bit of a laugh’

An Australian laborer has explained the real story behind a viral Google Maps image that caught him in an apparent brawl outside his workshop.

Kenny Riley went viral after owning up to the image, which was taken by a Google Street View car outside his Old Caperum site in country South Australia.

But not everything was as it seemed.

“Me and me mate, the other work colleague, were sitting in our lunchroom having lunch, and we peeked out the window and saw the Google Maps car go past,” Riley told 10 News, First Adelaide.

“We were like, “Let’s go out in the driveway and have some fun, aye.”

He said a fake fight was the first prank that came to the larrikin pairs’ minds.

“The first thing that comes to our minds was that we’ll have a bit of a punchup, you know, have a bit of a laugh … it was a last-minute thing,” he said.

On Facebook, where millions have seen a screenshot of the altercation, Riley wrote, “It’s funny how big something small can get.”

The staged melee is still viewable on Google Maps’ street view function.

A frame from further up the road even shows the pair peeking around the corner as they prepare for their hilarious prank.

Google’s Street View function, powered by cars that cruise streets around the globe with 360-degree cameras on top, has captured many interesting, weird, or creepy moments.

Australian examples include car crashes, real fights, and even a penny-farthing rider towing a penguin in a trailer.

The function, which allows users to stroll down streets around the world virtually, turned 15 years old in 2022.

And for those with privacy concerns, the tech giant says: “Google takes a number of steps to protect the privacy of individuals when Street View imagery is published to Google Maps.”

“We have developed cutting-edge face and license plate blurring technology that is designed to blur identifiable faces and license plates within Google-contributed imagery in Street View.”

The company states it considers additional censoring of cars, businesses, or people on request.