Fans are baffled as Youtuber Karl Jobst loses the defamation lawsuit against infamous "King of Kong" cheater Billy Mitchell.
Fans are in disbelief and feel deceived after Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst lost his defamation lawsuit against (alleged) cheater Billy Mitchell, former Donkey Kong and Pac-Man speedrunning World Champion. Jobst was ordered to pay $350,000 plus interests after the judge decides that a defaming video has been posted based on "reckless" and false claims.
Who Are These People?
Billy Mitchell is an infamous speedrunner, known for his Donkey Kong and Pac-Man speedrunning World Records, featured in his own documentary "King of Kong".
Multiple people accused Billy Mitchell of cheating his various records by playing on Arcade Emulators ("MAME") which ultimately led to his records being pulled from the Guinness World Records and Twin Galaxies, as more and more evidence for these claims surfaced over many years. Mitchell is notorious for sueing people over defamatory claims.
Karl Jobst is an Australian YouTuber and speedrunner himself with over 1,11 million subscribers who often covers topics around the world of speedrunning and cheating scandals. At the end of 2019, he uploaded his first video addressing Billy Mitchell and his numerous scandals throughout the years.
What Everyone Thought The Lawsuit Is About
In 2021, Karl Jobst announced on his YouTube channel that he also got sued by Billy Mitchell over defamatory claims. After this, Jobst continued to give updates on this lawsuit and other "Mitchell content," together with his usual coverage of the speedrunning world. Fans donated money to Jobst's legal defense under the impression that the lawsuit is about his claims over Mitchell cheating, as it was the reason for him to sue other content creators over these claims. With this assumption, everyone thought that it's almost guaranteed that Karl Jobst is going to win his case against Billy Mitchell, as it can be proven that foul play was involved with his scores.
The Real Reason Behind The Lawsuit
After the verdict was live streamed, fans were absolutely shocked to see Jobst losing and wondered how this could've happened. It turned out that the real reason for the defamation lawsuit wasn't Jobst accusing Mitchell of cheating, but rather that Mitchell sued Jobst over a claim that fellow YouTuber "Apollo Legend" took his own life after having to pay "a large sum of money" to Mitchell.
Apollo Legend was a YouTuber who also posted similar content like Jobst. In September 2019, he posted the now deleted video "The Greatest Hoax In Gaming History", talking in-depth about how Mitchell (allegedly) cheated his scores. After posting this video, Mitchell sued him over defamation.
Was It Really Mitchell's Fault?
In the 2021 video, Karl Jobst claimed that Mitchell contributed to his death because of "stress arising from [his] settlement" and that Apollo Legend supposedly had to pay "a large sum of money". While it is true that Mitchell expressed joy over hearing a previous false statement about Apollo Legend's death, he sued Jobst over these claims. According to the judge, Jobst's coverage of the situation made it sound like Jobst was implying that Mitchell “in essence, hounded Apollo Legend to death”.
While this is the real reason for the lawsuit, fans claim that they were misled by Jobst because his updates about the lawsuit were phrased as if the lawsuit was about cheating allegations.
Outcome
Karl Jobst ultimately lost the case and is ordered to pay $350.000 plus interest. It was revealed that Apollo Legend settled his lawsuit with Billy Mitchell and didn't have to pay him anything. In a now deleted video of Apollo Legend before his suicide, he claimed that his main reason was an ongoing dispute with another YouTuber, DarkViperAU.
Apollo Legend didn't mention Mitchell or the lawsuit at all, and was known to battle with health issues. Judge Ken Barlow states that Jobst's claims have been severely damaging to Mitchell's reputation, while Jobst made the claim that Billy Mitchell's had an already pre-existing bad reputation because of his numerous cheating scandals and his infamy for sueing people on a whim before.
Furthermore, Judge Barlow framed Jobst's actions as a "crusade" against Mitchell. This could be backed up by viewer engagement in Jobst's ongoing coverage of Mitchell-related themes.
Why Fans Feel Cheated
While Mitchell has some followers believing in his innocence, proof that Mitchell played on MAME and not real arcade hardware is generally accepted, while others criticize Mitchell for his overblown self-confidence and brand him as an obsessive liar. It is because of that why fans felt like this case was the final nail to ruin a cheaters' legacy. Looking at comments under Jobst's videos or the GoFundMe for his legal fees, it is clear that this was the impression Jobst gave his fans.
A comment by a fan who donated $156 states:
I love to see true justice prevail, and watch tyrants, narcissists, and evil people get their comeuppances! Here's some cash, Karl, and thanks for the videos! I was a fan before the Billy Mitchell videos, and it took me a long time to save some money to help out with the legal fees! Keep up the good fight!
In total, the GoFundMe raised $200,891AUD.
Karl Jobst's Response
The livestream of the court ruling is now deleted, and Jobst followed it up by a statement in the community tab on his YouTube channel stating:
I removed my last video. Obviously people are upset so it is better I address the concerns of the public first and make a video explaining everything. I would just ask you wait for my video before making a full judgement.
While many fans are outraged and feel deceived by Jobst's lack of transparency about the true nature of the lawsuit, some fans are still supportive and think that his intentions were good and hope that Jobst's next video clarifies his true reasons behind not speaking up about the true purpose of this court case.
What do you think of the situation? Do you think Karl Jobst acted with good intentions? Or do you think Billy Mitchell was treated too harshly?