Minnesota’s One Minute Tours guy leaves the state — and the States

Minnesota’s One Minute Tours guy is no longer Minnesota’s.

John O’Sullivan, who charmed the state with his lightning tours on social media, posted a new video late Sunday night. On a large sheet of cardboard, he hand-painted an announcement: “Time to Leave Minnesota?”

It wasn’t really a question. By the time his fans watched the video, O’Sullivan was long gone. A month earlier, he’d packed up his home and family and moved to Australia with his Australian wife and their two small children. It was a few days after an ICE agent shot Renee Good on a Minneapolis street. Two weeks later, federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on a different Minneapolis street.

“It would be impossible to put into words the level of guilt that I feel, being here at this time when my friends, my family, are fighting for what is right back in Minneapolis,” he said in a 12-minute video posted on Instagram and his new “Hidden Middle” YouTube channel. But “at what point are we irresponsible parents when we have the wherewithal to not be in this situation, and are choosing to live here anyway?”

Mankato-raised O’Sullivan had lived in Australia for years and has dual citizenship. His concerns about staying in the United States, he said in the video, started last year, after two harrowing episodes of gun violence in his home state.

The summer of 2025 began with the political assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the attempted killing of a state senator and his wife. It ended with a mass shooting at a children’s Mass, during the first week of classes at Annunciation School in Minneapolis, in his neighborhood.

“I don’t feel that Minnesota is a safe place for my children right now,” said O’Sullivan, whose children are 2 and 4. Again and again, he had asked guests on his podcast about gun violence. “I also don’t think that there’s a bright future when it comes to our political violence.”

“It betrays a lot of values that I [hold] dear about democracy and standing up for what is right,” he said. “But those values fall below the values of keeping my family safe.”

The Minnesota Star Tribune reached out to O’Sullivan on Monday morning — the middle of the night in Australia. He has not yet responded.

O’Sullivan described himself as “Minnesota’s largest social video creator” on the Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $65,000 from his fans to launch “Hidden Middle”. He said he plans to release his remaining Minnesota content and then switch to tales of expat life in Australia.

Reaction on social media ranged from understanding to disbelieving.

“So brave to fundraiser $70K from Minnesotans and then jump ship!” one YouTube commenter wrote.

“Gotta be honest — it hurts a bit!” one commenter wrote on Instagram. “You have always been one of us! Hard not to feel like this justifies others who are constantly talking about the ‘dangers of Minneapolis.’”

Commenters on the r/Minnesota Reddit savaged the move and the video that justified it.