William ‘Billy’ James Mitchell sues Brisbane YouTuber Karl Jobst over video allegedly defaming him
An American gamer suing for defamation has told a judge an Australian YouTuber “just kept coming” with defamatory claims against him.
An Australian YouTuber and speedrunner who accused an American gamer of contributing to the death of another YouTuber “just kept coming” with defamatory claims against him, a court has been told.
William “Billy” James Mitchell, 59, has lodged proceedings against Brisbane-based content creator Karl Jobst over comments Mr Jobst made in a YouTube video published online in May 2021.
Mr Mitchell, a former world record holder for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong, claims Mr Jobst defamed him when he said in the video the gamer had contributed to the death by suicide of another YouTuber, Ben Smith – also known as “Apollo Legend” – in 2021.
Mr Mitchell has set numerous world records for playing the hit arcade games Donkey Kong and Pac Man but has faced allegations of cheating in the past.
The court was previously told Mr Mitchell had lost several world records after an investigation by Guinness World Records and video game database Twin Galaxies – which officiates high scores for classic video games – removed his scores.
However, most of these had since been reinstated after review, the court was told.
The court was told Mr Mitchell sued several people and corporations over cheating allegations, including Twin Galaxies and Mr Smith.
His lawsuit with Mr Smith was ultimately settled out of court, with the YouTuber agreeing to sign over all rights to any videos made accusing Mr Mitchell of cheating.
The court was shown a YouTube video published by Mr Mitchell that disputed Mr Jobst’s allegations that the American’s lawsuit had played a factor in Mr Smith’s death by suicide.
On Tuesday, during cross-examination, Mr Mitchell said he’d informed Mr Jobst that he’d sent a concerns notice to the YouTuber over the alleged defamatory claim.
“I wanted to challenge him and stop it but he mocked it,” Mr Mitchell said, referring to tweets Mr Jobst published after he was issued the concerns notice.
“He simply wouldn’t stop and I didn’t believe he was going to.
“If he had (stopped), we wouldn’t be here (in court).”
When asked by Mr Jobst’s barrister, Michael de Waard, about his reasoning for sending the concerns notice despite his client having removed the “offensive words” from his video before republishing, Mr Mitchell said the YouTuber “just kept coming”.
“I never said I would sue him (Mr Jobst) for Apollo paying (me) money,” he told Brisbane District Court.
“I was upset because he blamed me for the death of a young man.
“Basically, he said I murdered him and I put out a video to rebut that.
“Everyone who watched my video had watched his video. I was aware of it.
“He just kept coming. He took the words down but continued to claim they were true.
“Everyone who talks about that video, talks about those words.”
When Mr de Waard again asked why Mr Mitchell continued with the defamation case against his client, despite him removing the “offensive words”, Mr Mitchell replied: “He didn’t stop.”
The court was told about a separate lawsuit Mr Mitchell settled outside of court with Twin Galaxies, after they’d claimed he’d cheated about his gaming records.
When asked about the harm these past cheating allegations caused him, Mr Mitchell told the court he’d been financially impacted.
“For short period of time, I did lose some shows, some appearances,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Places either cancelled or simply stopped contacting due to the allegations and all the negativity around it.
“It did have some impact on me, my time personally... as I had to address this, it took time away from my wife and my children.
“As far as gaming stuff, it did harm me for a short time.”
However, this line of cross-examination was questioned by presiding Judge Ken Barlow KC about whether the historical harm caused was relevant to the current defamation proceedings against Mr Jobst.
Mr de Waard explained his line of questioning was because Mr Mitchell made similar claims of harm in the Twin Galaxies lawsuit as he had made against his client.
But Mr Barlow said that wasn’t “the same harm” alleged.
“There’s no reason he couldn’t suffer harm three years earlier (in the Twin Galaxies case) then suffered additional harm... as a result of your client,” Mr Barlow said.
“Are you suggesting that ... the loss of income or non-income producing invitations after your client’s publication was ongoing and really just an ongoing reaction to the Twin Galaxies publication three years earlier?”
Mr de Waard replied: “Yes”.
Mr Jobst is relying on a statutory defence of truth.
Mr Mitchell remains under cross-examination as the trial continues on Wednesday.
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