YouTuber Karl Jobst to pay more than $230,000 to Donkey Kong record holder Billy Mitchell in defamation ruling

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And it could have been more, the judge said.

Billy Mitchell gives a thumbs-up to camera.
(Image credit: Guinness World Records / Billy Mitchell)

An Australian court has ordered YouTuber Karl Jobst to pay over AU$380,000 (around $237,000 / £183,000) in damages to celebrity arcade gamer Billy Mitchell, relating to defamatory comments made by Jobst in a video published in 2021. Jobst is a Queensland-based gaming YouTuber with a focus on speedrunning and competitive games.

Mitchell's record-holding Donkey Kong scores were called into question in 2017, which ultimately led to Mitchell's removal from both the Twin Galaxies and Guinness World record books. This set in motion a confusing web of litigation, ultimately resulting in Mitchell's records being reinstated. One of the lawsuits filed by Mitchell was against the late YouTuber Benjamin Smith, aka Apollo Legend, who had recorded several videos claiming Mitchell had cheated.

Jobst' video—subtly titled 'The Biggest Conmen in Video Game History Strike Again!'—implied that Mitchell's settlement with Smith involved the latter paying him a large sum of money, ultimately leading to his suicide in 2020. Jobst also claimed in the video that Mitchell had "expressed joy at the thought" of Smith's death. It was this—and not any claim about the legitimacy of Mitchell's Donkey Kong scores—that prompted Mitchell to sue Jobst.

Shaun Prescott
Shaun Prescott
Australian Editor

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.

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