Gaming YouTuber Karl Jobst has lost a high-profile defamation lawsuit against arcade legend Billy Mitchell and must pay more than $350,000 in damages.
The case centered not on Mitchell’s disputed gaming records, as many had assumed, but on false claims made by Jobst that Mitchell’s legal actions had driven fellow content creator Apollo Legend to suicide.
The court found that Jobst had repeated these damaging allegations even after being informed they were untrue. This persistence ultimately proved costly, with the judge ruling firmly in Mitchell’s favor.
Jobst has built his YouTube career on deep dives into gaming controversies, particularly focusing on Mitchell’s disputed Donkey Kong high scores.
His videos often question the legitimacy of Mitchell’s arcade achievements, which have been a source of controversy in the gaming community for years.
Billy Mitchell rose to fame in the early 2000s for his perfect Pac-Man score and record-breaking Donkey Kong performances. He gained mainstream recognition after appearing in the documentary The King of Kong but later faced accusations that some of his most famous records were achieved through emulation rather than original arcade hardware.
The late Apollo Legend was himself a gaming YouTuber who covered cheating controversies. His death by suicide occurred during ongoing legal disputes with Mitchell, but the court determined there was no causal connection between Mitchell’s lawsuits and Apollo’s tragic decision.
Many viewers expressed surprise at the lawsuit’s focus, with one commenter noting: “I thought the case was about Mitchell’s cheating allegations, not this.” Legal experts point out that this case shows the risks content creators face when making unverified claims about ongoing legal matters.
The substantial financial penalty sends a clear message to the YouTube community about the potential consequences of spreading false information, especially when it involves serious allegations that contribute to someone like Apollo Legend’s death.
