Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro was “broken” and “wanted to hide” during the state’s Delta outbreak due to the abuse from members of the public that followed a series of Friendlyjordies videos, a defamation trial has heard.
On Tuesday, Barilaro took the stand in his case against tech giant Google over a series of videos made by the YouTube comedian Jordan Shanks, who uses the nom de plume Friendlyjordies, in late 2020.
Barilaro told the court about his “anger” at Google for refusing to take down videos at the centre of the case despite repeated requests from his staff, and recalled telling his staff he was contemplating self-harm after receiving significant online abuse.
“I was in a dark place,” Barilaro told the court.
“The pile on, pile on, pile on, pile on. It’s hard to admit to your friends how you’re feeling [but] I did say those things and I’ve thought about those things often.
“When you’re away from your family in your apartment in Sydney, up late at night deleting abusive comments [online], I tell you what, you start looking at the balcony for a way out.”
Barilaro launched legal action against both Shanks and Google, the owner of YouTube, over 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 has continued.
On Tuesday, Barilaro told the court that statements in the Friendlyjordies videos including repeated use of the words “wog”, “greasy” and “slimeball” made him feel as if he was at school where, he said, he suffered racist abuse because of his Italian heritage.
“For a moment there I felt like nothing’s moved on,” he told the court.
“Racism still exists. [We] talk about the migrant story and how great immigration has been for this country [but] we were called ‘wogs’ or ‘dagos’ or ‘garlic breath’ because we ate salami and olives. I felt like life had just gone back to where I was when I was a young boy.
“You can use comedy in a way to highlight the differences of our heritage and culture and that happens in other cultures, and it can be done in a way that’s not offensive, but look at the way he used the word ‘wog’.
“I grew up with the word ‘wog’ and ‘dago’. I used to go to school in primary school and would start the day in a punch-up because I was called a ‘wog’.”
“Anyone who wants to use the word ‘wog’ and think it doesn’t offend, well ‘wog’ was not used as a term of an endearment, I grew up with that.”
Barilaro made no secret of his anger at the tech company for refusing to apologise for the videos, despite having dropped the majority of its defences days before the trial was due to begin.
“I hate Google,” he told the court.
“If they can’t see these videos for what they are, well then there’s something bloody wrong with corporate Australia or corporate America or corporations.”
An at times emotional Barilaro gave evidence that he had been the subject of intense abuse by members of the public following the videos, including a series of public confrontations which left him fearing for his family’s safety.
Barilaro told the court that in early 2021 he was at a shopping centre in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with his young daughter when a man approached him and asked whether he was the deputy premier.
“I’m always polite and said ‘yes’, and he said ‘you’re a corrupt piece of shit’,” he told the court.
Describing the man as “very aggressive” Barilaro said his daughter, who is six, “held on to my leg” and was clearly afraid.
“I said, ‘I’m with my daughter, can you bugger off’. I might have used stronger language than that. [But] this was beyond me being stalked or attacked, it could impact on my family,” he said.
On another occasion, Barilaro said, he had been drinking in a bar with staff when an intoxicated man “started abusing me, [calling me] a corrupt piece of shit”.
“He got really confrontational and aggressive,” Barilaro said.
“This guy was going to punch-on, no doubt, he wasn’t just happy to abuse me.”
The trial continues.
