Fans Help Raise $1 Million For Friendlyjordies To Fight Defamation Case

Fans of the popular Australian YouTuber Friendlyjordies have come together to help him fight a defamation case.

A little more than $1 million has been crowdfunded since Jordan Shanks-Markovina was sued by NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

He's being represented by law firm Xenophon Davis, who revealed today (July 15) that a whopping $1,060,300 has been deposited into their account.

There have been 24,000 donations received since the crowdfunding campaign started.

The YouTuber has thanked everyone for their incredibly generous support.

"We will never forget this generosity. We have received more than 24,000 individual donations - that's more people [than] who first voted John Barilaro into Parliament. We know the public is on our side in this battle," he said.

The firm is also representing the YouTube channel's producer Kristo Langker, who has been accused of stalking the Deputy Premier.

Xenophon Davis said in a statement: "The funds will cover the legal costs of defending the defamation action launched by Mr Barilaro against YouTube channel Friendlyjordies founder Jordan Shanks, and defending the interests of his producer Kristo Langker and his family following his controversial arrest.

Langker was arrested in dramatic fashion, with video footage showing him being placed on the ground while being taken into custody.

The state's second-in-charge launched a lawsuit against Shanks-Markovina by alleging he was defamed by videos titled bruz and Secret Dictatorship.

The clips were published in September and October last year and Mr Barilaro took issue with them portraying him as a 'corrupt conman' who 'committed perjury nine times'.

Those were just some of the digs levelled at Mr Barilaro and the Sydney Morning Herald said Friendlyjordies will rely on the 'defences of truth, contextual truth and honest opinion in the case'.

The Deputy Premier also complained that he was being harassed by Kristo Langker on two separate instances where he alleges the producer followed him at or following public events.

Langker's lawyers have claimed video evidence of the second incident involving the Deputy Premier 'does not appear to accord with the police facts'.

Attorney Mark Davis said the charges against Langker and Shanks-Markovina will be fought 'as vigorously as possible'.

"Every lawyer working on this has undertaken to do so at reduced rates or donating part of their fees. Every dollar will be guarded," he said.

The YouTuber's defamation case will return to court later this month, while Langker's will have an appearance in August.

Featured Image Credit: Friendlyjordies/Instagram

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie