In a nutshell: Billy Mitchell, the arcade gaming legend who has been embroiled in controversy for almost a decade now, has been awarded $230,000 in a defamation lawsuit against a YouTuber. Karl Jobst implied in a video that Mitchell's legal battle against a different YouTuber led to that person's suicide after it left him "deeply in debt." But a judge said Jobst had shown a "reckless disregard for the truth."
Mitchell has appeared in several documentaries related to his achievements in Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, including King of Kong in 2007. But in 2018, he was accused of using open-source emulator MAME, rather than the original arcade hardware, for some of his Donkey Kong high scores. Retro-gaming records website Twin Galaxies investigated and stripped Mitchell of his records. Guinness World Records did the same a day later.
Mitchell vowed to clear his name and threatened to sue Guiness and Twin Galaxies if they did not restore his records. Guiness reinstated his record following an investigation in 2020, while Twin Galaxies did the same in 2024 after Mitchell sued the company and the pair reached a settlement.
In 2021, Queensland, Australia-based YouTuber Karl Jobst posted a video titled "The Biggest Conmen in Video Game History Strike Again!" It claimed that one of the lawsuits filed by Mitchell, against the late YouTuber Benjamin Smith, aka Apollo Legend, led to a settlement that involved Smith paying Mitchell a large sum of money, leaving him in debt and contributing to his suicide in 2020.
Jobst's video also claimed that Mitchell had "expressed joy at the thought" of Smith's death.
Mitchell sued Jobst over the claims made in the latter's video, which had amassed over 500,000 views. Brisbane District Court Judge Ken Barlow awarded Mitchell AU$350,000 (around $230,000) in damages following a trial late last year.
"Clearly he wanted to be the knight who slayed the Mitchell dragon," the judge said. "His lance was not as strong as he thought it to be."
According to the judge, the 2020 settlement between Mitchell and Smith never involved any money. Smith was told to remove any YouTube videos and social media posts he made relating to Mitchell. He was also required to hand over copyright of those removed videos to Mitchell, and to stop publishing content about Mitchell or face a $25,000 fine for each incident.
Jobst had originally claimed that Smith was ordered to pay Mitchell $1 million. Jobst edited the video several times while it was online, once after Mitchell suggested he intended to sue, and again after Smith's brother confirmed no money had been exchanged in the settlement between Mitchell and Smith.
Jobst had also made videos about the cheating claims made against Mitchell, but the judge said it was not his role to determine the truth of these allegations.
"(Jobst) seems to see himself as a crusader against Mr Mitchell - one of the last people sued by Mr Mitchell and the only one who has not backed down," he said.
I lost. The judge found Billy to be a credible witness and believed his entire testimony. From that point on unfortunately there was really nothing that could have saved me. I will now obviously consider my options.
– Karl Jobst (@karljobstgaming) April 1, 2025
I know many of you will be upset with this and I am sorry for…
The judge also referred to an interview in which Jobst said, "Billy Mitchell needs to be destroyed in court […] I am the last chance for the public to punish Billy."
Nothing like the smell of victory in the evening air.
– Billy Mitchell (@BillyPacman) March 31, 2025
The judge said he could have awarded Mitchell more than the AU$50,000 for aggravated damages that he won (there was also AU$300,000 for non-economic loss), but that was the amount Mitchell sought.
Jobst had written on Twitter that the case would be "an amazing experience." When asked outside court how he was going to pay the damages, he said "with money."
YouTuber ordered to pay "King of Kong" Billy Mitchell $230,000 over defamation claims
