The comedy YouTube channel Friendlyjordies has found itself in another bout of legal trouble concerning the South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

Earlier this year, John Barilaro began suing Jordan Shanks, the creator of the channel, for defamation in regard to a series of videos accusing him of political corruption. This recent arrest is on the producer of the channel, Kristo Langker, for allegedly stalking the premier. The arrest, which was captured on video, was subsequently uploaded to YouTube, although Friendlyjordies claims the arrest is no longer searchable on the platform.

It appears our most recent video "arrested" is no longer searchable on YouTube or Google. Also not visible in YouTube subscriber feeds.
Only way to see it is with a link or directly from the fj YouTube page.
All the more reason to share it!
-Editor.https://t.co/x9FYaHEZLs

— 💧friendlyjordies (@friendlyjordies) June 15, 2021

The allegations of stalking from the producer are contained to two different incidents, one taking place in a pub while Jordan Shanks was there in character dressed as Luigi, and another incident that took place shortly after a funeral for the Rugby player Bob Fulton. Both times, the altercations were, allegedly, about the same thing: questioning him over the reasons for the lawsuit against Jordan Shanks.

The timing of this arrest in conjunction with the trial recently starting regarding that defamation case has some people on Twitter worried about the potential for civil liberties being violated as a result of an attempt to uncover corruption in political figures, according to the Guardian reporter Ben Eltham.

Whatever you think about Friendlyjordies, this is a deeply concerning development for civil liberties in NSW https://t.co/T6RikaQAEL

— Ben Eltham (@beneltham) June 13, 2021

Potentially making the situation more muddled, there are talks of an additional counter-suit being thrown from the Friendlyjordies camp for unnecessary police brutality in the arrest, as it utilized an anti-terrorism task force for something that some consider a civil matter. While the situation is still legally unfolding, the implications of it are not lost on other content creators, and depending on the outcome of the two cases, it may call for a change in procedure for independent news sources as well as comedians with real-life skits and characters.

How police pre-crime units targets citizens allegedly too obsessed with public officials
Serious questions arise over potential misuse of power by police departments created to identify and neutralise fixated" – Asher Wolf#Barilaro #FriendlyJordies https://t.co/2Qf9EyZQPH

— It's Time (@melaniedoak) June 15, 2021

There's a bitter irony in John Barilaro suing @friendlyjordies for painting him as a mafia don scarcely weeks before a FJs team member is arrested for his criticising Barilaro

— Michael Tanner (@MichaelTanner_) June 14, 2021

---

Article by Brandon Wink