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

Billy Mitchell gives a thumbs-up to camera.

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.