Friendlyjordies’ Community Manager/Producer (known as Matt Au on Twitter) has officially abandoned ship, due to a number of controversies surrounding the YouTuber.
In a post made to Twitter yesterday, he wrote about how Friendlyjordies’ (Jordan Shanks) ongoing controversies/media attention have made it difficult to work for him, as it goes against his better conscience.
https://twitter.com/Matt_AUIRL/status/1327503183275548672
In the extended tweet, he wrote:
It is with sadness, but also frustration and relief, that I am resigning from my position at Friendlyjordies. I have been a part of the Friendlyjordies team since the beginning of 2019 and since then I feel I have contributed much to the growth and success that we have had on our podcast as well as helped build a community of people who all stand behind the common goal of bringing Australia away from the direction we are heading.
However the continual and ongoing handling of controversies; both past and present, internally and externally, has driven me to part ways with the team and the show. I feel I cannot continue to work on and support Friendlyjordies in good conscious. Somewhere along the way the channel and the show that I once loved lost it’s way and I cannot continue to help spread a message that I no longer wholeheartedly believe in. I joined this team as a way of feeling like I was helping to contribute positively to society in someway; unfortunately I question whether or not that is the case anymore.
I wish the boys the best of luck with their future endeavors and hope that the work of Friendlyjordies ends up being a net positive in the long run.
Only a few hours before, he posted a gif of a man putting a gun to his head, with the caption: “Me dealing with new Jordies drama every fucking week.”
https://twitter.com/Matt_AUIRL/status/1327410682401210368
However, Matt Au reassured his followers that Shanks and himself are still on good terms, and that he understands his reason for leaving.
He won’t. Jordan and I are still on good terms. He understands why I left.
— Matt_AU (@Matt_AUIRL) November 14, 2020
This comes after the YouTuber has been involved in a string of controversies, with the most recent being a rant about the Djab Wurrung trees.
A few days ago, Friendlyjordies defended cultural genocide against the Djab Wurrung people, and joked about the significance of dreamtime stories on his comedy podcast.
@nichrichie This is not the NAIDOC Week Vibe #naidocweek #alwayswasalwayswillbe #Indigenous
“If that tree is below the threshold of when Indigenous people were saying it’s a sacred tree…no, science is science,” he said when discussing Djab Wurrung on the podcast.
One of the other hosts then interjected and said: “This is the worst discussion to be having in the middle of NAIDOC week guys.”
Shanks continued: “Yeah, as part of science we get it. I’m not on the Andrew Bolt train of ‘there wasn’t a genocide enacted on the Indigenous people.’ Yeah, obviously there was. But like dude? Science counts for everything.”
“If that tree was not there before colonialism. It’s a tree. A tree.
“This is the point that pissed me off on Twitter. They were saying that [Djab Wurrung] is comparable to Queensland.”
