Friendlyjordies’ War on Everything

This is my video explaining how Friendlyjordies has risen to become the voice of his generation when it comes to Australian politics and why he has done so well in making politics an interesting subject to discuss.

Because politicians aren’t always the most interesting people to listen to and listening to those that talk about them can be even worse.

So, what has set Friendlyjordies, or Jordan Shanks, apart from the rest and how has his channel turned from low budget abstract sketch comedies to the icon of Australian political commentary it is today?

This is my video explaining why. Thank you to my incredible Patreons for continuing to support this channel. You guys are amazing.

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What is Friendlyjordies?

Jordan Shanks, known online as friendlyjordies, is an Australian comedian, YouTuber, and former model. His content explores controversial contemporary issues in the Australian political sphere, alongside self-proclaimed “lowbrow humour”. Shanks caused a stir through Twitter hashtags such as #”KoalaKiller” and “#SIMPleJoe”. Shanks’ channel, created in late 2013, has more than 440,000 subscribers. In his career as a YouTuber, he has interviewed the politicians Jodi McKay, Tanya Plibersek, Kristina Keneally and former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd. Shanks lives on the East Coast of New South Wales. Shanks was born in Australia of Yugoslavian descent.

Prior to becoming a YouTuber, Shanks was a male model, appearing in magazines throughout Australia and Southeast Asia. Having criticised businessman and mining magnate Clive Palmer in previous videos, Shanks released a twenty-six minute video entitled “fatty”. Shanks revealed that his comments had caused Palmer to threaten a defamation lawsuit against him. Throughout the video, Shanks refers to Palmer as a “Fatty McFuck Head.” Merchandise was later released with this slogan. The situation was covered by several media outlets, including the BBC. Having criticised businessman and mining magnate Clive Palmer in previous videos, Shanks released a twenty-six minute video entitled “fatty”. Shanks revealed that his comments had caused Palmer to threaten a defamation lawsuit against him. Throughout the video, Shanks refers to Palmer as a “Fatty McFuck Head.”

Merchandise was later released with this slogan. The situation was covered by several media outlets, including the BBC. On 10 June 2020, Shanks released an interview with New South Wales Opposition Leader Jodi McKay, where the pair discussed a range of topics, notably including the state and federal Liberal Governments’ handling of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, particularly with regard to the resulting animal deaths. McKay came under fire for making such comments in the interview, coming to the attention of several news outlets, and drawing a response from Deputy Premier of New South Wales John Barilaro, who described allegations that his government was responsible for the deaths of animals during the fires as “desperate”. On 29 June 2020, Shanks made a video entitled “7News HUMILIATES ME” within which he made an impersonation of Barilaro featuring the word “Bruz” multiple times.

Barilaro took offence to the impersonation claiming it had “racist undertones”. Shanks responded to Barilaro’s accusations of racism by bringing up Barilaro’s previous stances on political correctness and Barilaro changing his name from Giovanni to John. A subsequent video by Shanks portrayed Barilaro as a character from the Super Mario video game. Stephen Fenn, husband of New South Wales Opposition Leader Jodi McKay was later seen wearing a FriendlyJordies T-shirt containing a cartoon depiction of “Super Barilaro Bruz,” as did Marcus Paul, a figure subject to Shanks criticism. In a video uploaded on the 14th of July, 2020, Shanks consumed an unknown number of drinks while reviewing brands of Australian box wine. The video was briefly mentioned in mainstream media coverage on the website for Triple M, a nationally broadcast radio station. Shanks’ support for trade unions and the Australian Labor Party has led some to claim that Shanks is paid by these organisations.

In 2020 the Australian Council of Trade Unions confirmed that it had paid for content by Shanks after he had approached the Council with such a proposal. While acknowledging the commissioned material, Shanks denied that this had influenced his political views.

And if you’re still reading this – hello.

This video is made through Fair Use under copyright law for the purposes of education in criticism or review; as well as parody or satire.

https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92c

https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod