The former NSW deputy premier has told a court that he received hate mail so vicious it included a reference to his daughter being tied to a pole and raped in front him after Google allowed a series of controversial videos to remain on YouTube.
John Barilaro is suing Google for damages after it refused to remove two videos posted on the YouTube channel of Friendlyjordies, a popular comedy and political commentary outlet.
The Federal Court has been told that Mr Barilaro claimed various videos fronted by Jordan Shanks, the face of Friendlyjordies, were defamatory because they wrongly portrayed him as a corrupt conman who took bribes, perjured himself, blackmailed other elected officials and misused public funds.
Friendlyjordies and Mr Barilaro reached a settlement last year in which Mr Shanks issued an apology, paid $100,000 in legal costs and edited two videos at the centre of the dispute.
Google, the owner of YouTube, continued to defend its decision to allow the videos to be published despite multiple complaints and requests to have the videos removed.
The court was told on Monday that Google had dropped its remaining defence in the case and would no longer claim the videos were in the public interest.
Mr Barilaro, who served as deputy premier from 2016 to 2021, took to the stand on Tuesday to give evidence about the extent of the harm the videos caused him.
He wept in court, saying the stress of the case and damage the videos caused left him “looking at the balcony” for a way to escape the pain.
“It’s not just the video, the video is one part of the abuse that has been constant,” Mr Barilaro said.
“I got disgusting, revolting messages … go kill yourself, you should be dead … you’re a person of sh*t, your daughter should be tied to a pole and raped in front of you and then we’ll kill you.
“That’s the stuff that comes off the back of these videos.”
Mr Barilaro said when more videos were posted the abuse escalated and he was confronted by angry community members while out getting groceries, at the pub and buying fuel.
“He (Mr Shanks) got a whole online community to believe the garbage that I was a conman or corrupt, that I perjured myself and then he did it through racism,” Mr Barilaro said.
“I didn’t get into politics to be corrupt. I made my money, my fortune in business for 20 years working my guts out from starting on the factory floor and I learnt from dad. We invested wisely and we sacrificed.”
The court was played other Friendlyjordies videos – including those that referenced media stories about Mr Barilaro’s marriage breakdown and the start of his relationship with his former senior media adviser – that it was told were part of a campaign of attacks.
“I actually thought it was never going to end,” Mr Barilaro said.
“Every time a video was posted it ramped up so hard and so harsh.”
Mr Barilaro said the allegations contained in the videos were either false, taken out of context, years old or had not led to any findings of wrongdoing.
The coxjmtzywurt was told that Mr Barilaro felt the Friendlyjordies campaign against him was “retribution” over a Daily Telegraph story in which he told a journalist that Mr Shanks made videos containing “racist undertones” in the form of impersonations with exaggerated accents.
“I called out racism,” Mr Barilaro said.
“The undertone was all racist, the accents, the terms that he used … I just felt like I’d gone back to when I was a young boy … we were called wogs and Dagoes and garlic breath because we ate salami or olives.
“To this day I just can’t let it go.”
In the videos posted to YouTube, Mr Barilaro was a “fat wog c**k”, “greasy little scrotum” and “greasy Ned Kelly”, while there was a link raised between the National Party and the disappearance of people, the court was told.
“Ned Kelly was a criminal that killed police … he adds the greasy part in because I’m ethnic,” Mr Barilaro said.
“Grease ball or greasy wog; they were terms that I grew up with … there was an undertone of criminality.
“The comment that people have gone missing … of course he says that because I’m Italian … Griffith’s down the road … the show Underbelly was all down there … Donald Mackay who went missing was a politician.”
Mr Barilaro said he considered settling with Google when an offer was received and people, including former premier Gladys Berejiklian, urged him to reconsider the action, but he decided to press on.
“I remember even the Premier said ‘just leave it alone’,” Mr Barilaro said.
“She didn’t want me to take on Friendlyjordies.”
The hearing continues.Mental health support
