French’s satirical video,  S--- You’ll Never Hear in Wollongong, was the toast of social media last month and has clocked up more than 62,000 views on YouTube.

But the clip also drew some detractors, including a woman claiming to be  involved with the ‘‘We Love the Gong’’ tourism marketing campaign – a target of French’s satire. 

Joke is on Wollongong as video goes viral

The woman took to the Mercury’s website to lambaste the reference, part of a five-minute video in which French and his friends deliver a series of regional in-jokes.

The woman accused French of mocking the city ‘‘to make a quick buck’’ and said the video put the region’s tourism industry at risk. 

‘‘This could go global...and then we will lose much-needed funding a[nd] resources,’’ she wrote. 

‘‘This video has surely effected (sic) our small businesses and put people out of work all because a young punk wants a couple of laughs with his mates...jobs are on your head Frenchy.’’

This week French responded with another video, titled ‘‘Frenchy responds to crazy comments by old people’’.

In it, he plays the role of Joseph, who loses his job at ‘‘Boost Juice in the mall’’ a few months from now.

‘‘The foreigners would come from everywhere just for our juices,’’ Joseph tells the camera. 

‘‘But then this video got released...everything changed. The Swedish and the Russians, they stopped coming to visit Wollongong. Lots of people lost their jobs – all because of this one yahoo.’’ 

Elsewhere in his response, French – a 26-year-old northern suburbs native who recently moved to Sydney in search of his big break – tells viewers he likes Wollongong. 

‘‘This isn’t hate-inspired. I’m not doing this because I hate Wollongong. I like it, it’s just fun to rip on.’’