Friendlyjordies


Jordan Shanks, known online as friendlyjordies, is an Australian comedian, YouTuber, and former model. Known for his content, which explores controversial contemporary issues in the Australian political sphere, alongside self-proclaimed 'lowbrow humour' Shanks has become notorious for creating a stir through Twitter hashtags such as #"KoalaKiller" and "#SIMPleJoe", Shanks has accumulated more the 430,000 subscribers since the birth of his channel in late 2013. In his career as a YouTuber, he has interviewed many notable politicians, including Jodi McKay, Kristina Keneally and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Personal life

Shanks lives on the East Coast of New South Wales. Although born in Australia he is of Yugoslavian decent. Prior to becoming a YouTuber, Shanks was a male model, appearing in magazines throughout Australia and South East Asia.

Controversies

Having criticised businessman and mining magnate Clive Palmer in previous videos, Shanks released a twenty-four minute video entitled "fatty." Shanks revealed that his comments had caused Palmer to file a defamation lawsuit against him. Throughout the video, Shanks refers to Palmer as a "Fatty McFuck Head", even going as far as to get other comedians such as Issac Butterfield to call him this. Merchandise was later released with this slogan. The situation was covered by several media outlets, including the BBC.
On the 8th of April 2020 Shanks released a video attacking media figure Joe Hildebrand entitled "simp." The video encouraged FriendlyJordies fans to get the hashtag "SIMPleJoe" trending on Twitter. The hashtag later went on to reach number 7 on Australian trending Twitter hashtags. Some viewers expressed dislike toward the video, accusing it of being "petty" or "bullying" for attacking things such things as Hildebrand's appearance, and spelling skills.
On the 10th of 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 Liberal Government's handling of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, particularly with regard to the possible deaths of animals as a result. 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 John Barilaro, who described allegations that his government was responsible for the deaths of animals during the fires as "desperate" When asked about the interview herself, Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian declined to comment.
On the 29th of June 2020, Shanks made a video entitled "7NEWS HUMILIATES ME" within which he made an impersonation of Deputy Premier of New South Wales John 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. Jordies then doubled down on the impersonation by having Barilaro feature as a character in a satirical depiction of the game Mario Bros, entitled "Super Barilaro Bruz". 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.
Shanks garnered some negative feedback for labelling 2SM radio host Marcus Paul a "prawn" and "district nine escapee" on a video entitled "Talkback Boomer EVISCERATES Me"
In an upload on July 14, 2020, Shanks consumed an unknown number of drinks while reviewing brands of Australian goon. Appearing to be intoxicated, he proceeded on a long rant about viewers who complain about his political content being interrupted with "Buzzfeed-esque" videos for quickly achieved content. Despite the apparent unprofessional nature of the video, most of his viewers would consider this type of content that appeals to the "lowbrow humour" of the channel as "hectic" and have referred to Shanks as a "top dog" for getting "smashed" in the middle of the day.
His unrelenting support of Unions and the Australian Labor Party have lead some to claim that Shanks is paid by such organisations. Shanks strongly denies this.

See Also