John Barilaro 'considered self-harm' after FriendlyJordies YouTube videos, court hears

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro withdrew from public life and was “considering self-harm” after a series of YouTube videos by the comedian Jordan Shanks, a former adviser has told a court.Monday marked the first day of Barilaro’s trial against tech giant Google over videos posted by Shanks under the nom de plume FriendlyJordies in September and October 2020.Barilaro sued both Shanks and Google, the owner of YouTube, over the two videos titled bruz and Secret Dictatorship, claiming they were “vile and racist” and brought him into “public disrepute, odium, ridicule and contempt”.The claim against Shanks was settled in November last year, with Shanks apologising for any hurt caused, editing parts of two videos and paying legal costs but not damages. However the case against Google continued.During the hearing Barilaro’s former deputy chief of staff, Jeff McCormack, told the court the then member for Monaro had gone from being an “incredibly social” person with an “infectious energy and enthusiasm” to becoming withdrawn, including attempting to disguise himself while in public.McCormack told the court that he had been the one to show Barilaro the two videos at the centre of the case, and witnessed him becoming “very upset”.“Having known and worked…
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