Friendlyjordies

**Friendlyjordies** (real name **Jordan Shanks-Markovina)** is an Australian YouTuber and comedian. He's best known for his investigate journalism which tackles corruption, current events, and politics. He is an outspoken advocate of the center-left Labor Party.

As of August 2023, his channel has amassed over a million subscribers.

## Early life

Shanks was born on August 18, 1989. He is of Croatian descent.

For 8 years, he worked as a part-time male model while also studying international politics at the University of New South Wales. He eventually switched to creating YouTube videos, starting his channel in 2013.

## Career

Friendlyjordies' content is largely a mixture of comedy and politics. He also does live tours on a regular basis.

He famously had a feud with a politician named John Barilaro after making multiple videos exposing his corruption. This eventually led Barilaro to sue jordies in a defamation case, which many Australians saw as an attack on free speech. The situation further escalated when Friendlyjordies' producer, Kristo Langker, was arrested by agents of the Fixated Persons' Unit, being physically restrained in the process. The defamation case was eventually settled in late 2021, with Friendlyjordies being forced to pay zero dollars in damages to Barilaro.

In 2022, Friendlyjordies was once again under the threat of legal action after interviewing a gambling industry whistleblower. The interview caused one of Australia's largest casino companies, ClubsNSW, to threaten him with criminal prosecution. They later backed down in early 2023.

Some of his other popular work includes an attack piece on Australian billionaire Clive Palmer and a documentary detailing the Indonesian military's war crimes in West Papua.

## Views

Friendlyjordies is a supporter of the Australian Labor Party, viewing the right-wing Liberal and National parties to be a danger to both the economy and environment. He also critiques the more left-wing Green party, though to a lesser extent.

## Controversies

* In 2020, Friendlyjordies was accused of making racist statements towards Aboriginals in his podcast. The drama caused one of his producers to quit. Shanks later apologized, calling his comments "insensitive".

## References

1. ↑ Daily Mail article about Friendlyjordies

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6391343/From-catwalks-Youtube-content-untold-story-Jordan-Shanks.html
2. ↑ About section of Friendlyjordies' channel

https://www.youtube.com/@friendlyjordies/about
3. ↑ Friendlyjordies' viral video about John Barilaro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihoirTYqf2c
4. ↑ Kristo Langker considers suing the police over his unlawful arrest by the Fixated Persons' Unit

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/17/friendlyjordies-producer-kristo-langker-considers-civil-action-over-nsw-arrest
5. ↑ Friendlyjordies' interview with the whistleblower Troy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WanTmD3JBI
6. ↑ Friendlyjordies' post about ClubsNSW dropping their case against him

https://www.friendlyjordies.com/post/clubsnsw
7. ↑ fatty (Friendlyjordies video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJ7CSRRCDM
8. ↑ Paradise Bombed (Friendlyjordies)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSf3268tAbg
9. ↑ Liberal vs. Labor (Friendlyjordies video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9duYLZmFI0o
10. ↑ Pyramid Scheme (Friendlyjordies video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W047z1RUvYE
11. ↑ Friendlyjordies producer quits after Aboriginal comments

https://thebrag.com/friendlyjordies-community-manager-quits/
12. ↑ Friendlyjordies is Cancelled (YouTube Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6JsM4z-wzk