Friendlyjordies producer Kristo Langker has been charged with stalking NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The YouTube channel's star Jordan Shanks-Markovina is already being sued by the deputy premier for defamation over a series of videos.
Police arrested Langker at his Dulwich Hill home and charged him with stalking offences on June 4.
Officers allege the 21-year-old committed the offences against the deputy premier at Macquarie University on April 19 and in Sydney on June 4.
"A man has been charged following investigations by the Fixated Persons Investigation Unit into alleged stalking offences," NSW Police told AAP in a statement.
Langker has been granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Newtown Local Court on June 24.
The charges are the latest development in the unfolding spat between the friendlyjordies channel and the deputy premier.
Mr Barilaro is suing Google and Shanks-Markovina, whose channel boasts more than 130 million views, for defamation over a series of videos.
According to a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court in May by the MP, the videos in question greatly injured his reputation.
"(He) has been and will be brought into public disrepute, odium, ridicule and contempt," the document said.
The NSW Nationals leader also complained he was given no opportunity to respond to the allegations in the videos, titled "bruz" and "Secret Dictatorship" and aired in September and October 2020 respectively.
His solicitors sent Shanks-Markovina and Google letters in December 2020, demanding the videos be taken down due to their alleged defamatory nature.
The videos were also the subject of another letter sent to Google in January.
"No response was ever received to the letter," the statement of claims said.
Shanks-Markovina has said he would use a truth defence and had "a lot of people" to subpoena.
The Youtuber posted a video to his channel on Monday accusing Mr Barilaro of "impulsively, maliciously escalated the situation at every turn".
He included in the video phone footage of Langker's arrest, including a period of commotion in which the camera is lowered. Langker's mother exclaimed during this period that a police officer had assaulted her.
The police officer responds in the video by saying he tripped over.
Shanks-Markovina accused police of "storming in" to Langker's home, assaulting his family and taking him away in an unmarked police car, and said this was akin to an arrest in "Pinochet's Chile".
NSW Police said it had not received a complaint over Langker's arrest.
Australian Associated Press
