William ‘Billy’ James Mitchell sues YouTuber Karl Jobst for defamation in Brisbane

A famous arcade gamer is suing an Australian content creator after claiming his reputation was damaged in a video uploaded to YouTube.

A famous arcade gamer and former Donkey Kong world record holder is suing an Australian YouTuber for $450,000 after claiming his reputation was damaged in a controversial video.

William “Billy” James Mitchell lodged proceedings against Brisbane-based YouTuber Karl Jobst over comments Mr Jobst made in a YouTube video published online in May 2021.

Mr Mitchell, 59, shot to fame in 1982 after setting world records for playing the arcade games Donkey Kong and Pac Man.

Billy Mitchell with his lawyer Peter Somers. Picture: Tertius Pickard / NewsWire

Mr Mitchell claims Mr Jobst defamed him when the YouTuber said he contributed to the death by suicide of another YouTuber, Ben Smith – also known as “Apollo Legend” – in his 2021 video.

Brisbane District Court was previously told Mr Mitchell sued Mr Smith for defamation in February 2020 over allegations the YouTuber had made that Mr Mitchell had “cheated on world records”.

The lawsuit was ultimately settled outside of court and did not entail any monetary value, the court was previously told.

Mr Mitchell alleges Mr Jobst falsely claimed the gamer had callously expressed joy at Mr Smith’s death.

The court was previously shown a video published by Mr Mitchell condemning the video made by Mr Jobst.

In his video, which is still published online, Mr Mitchell refers to the concerning elements of Mr Jobst’s video.

Mr Mitchell is seeking $450,000 in damages from Mr Jobst.

During closing submissions, Mr Jobst’s lawyer Michael de Waard said it seemed strange that Mr Mitchell was republishing the words that had allegedly caused him distress.

“If the words in the offending published are so bad and (cause) such distress and such harm, why then does Mr Mitchell in his video say ‘this is so awful’, ‘things that are said of me are so bad’, (and) ‘for those of you haven’t seen it, here it is, I’m going to show it to you’,” Mr de Waard said.

Mr de Waard said Mr Mitchell had always been trying to “protect his reputation” through his various litigation against those who he claimed had defamed him, including Mr Smith.

Content creator Karl Jobst has denied all allegations he defamed Billy Mitchell. Picture: Tertius Pickard

The court was previously told Mr Mitchell had tried to sue others over defamatory claims, mostly related to allegations he cheated in achieving his high scores, but most of these cases were either settled out of court or not followed through.

“The alleged imputations go to him protecting his reputation as a video gamer,” Mr de Waard said.

“The litigation between Mr Mitchell and Mr Smith goes to Mr Mitchell protecting his reputation as a video gamer.

“The death of Mr Smith has a causal connection between Mr Mitchell protecting his reputation as a video gamer.

“The contextual truth imputations also relate to him protecting his reputation as a video gamer.

“So, it’s the propensity to do harm as the result to trying to protect his reputation as video gamer.”

However, Mr Mitchell’s lawyer Peter Somers said everyone was “perfectly entitled” to legally defend themselves in the court of law.

Mr Somers argued Mr Jobst’s video had the “propensity to harm the person’s health and wellbeing”, which occurred by Mr Mitchell’s health declining in the weeks after the video was first published.

The court was also told before the video was published, Mr Mitchell was attending 20 to 25 gaming appearances annually but that number dropped to four to five appearances a year since its publication.

Mr Somers said his client’s reputation had been affected as a whole, and not as it was argued by Mr de Waard that only his reputation was effected within the gaming community.

Billy Mitchell was previously a world record holder in Donkey Kong. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

He said the allegations claimed by Mr Jobst that Mr Mitchell had contributed to the death of Mr Smith was a “a very serious matter”.

“It’s not calling them a murder, but it is very serious, he said.

“When you couple it with the fact of the extent of the publication. we’re talking about a situation of a very serious impact that was personal.”

“We’re not suing for economic loss but in terms of the drop in appearances he had, it demonstrates the loss of reputation that its had.

“The result of this could mean ‘I could lose my life’, that’s the fear he (Mr Mitchell) spoke about in his evidence”.

Mr de Waard said his client had never suggested Mr Mitchell “killed” Mr Smith.

“There’s no suggestion in any of the imputations that Mr Mitchell has randomly shot someone,” he said.

“It’s the propensity to do harm as a result to protect his reputation as a video gamer.

“That’s the sector. The imputation itself does not indicate he killed him.

“It’s about the stressors of putting this gentleman (Mr Smith) with the litigation because Mr Mitchell has gone to those lengths to protect his reputation as a video gamer.”

Mr de Waard argued Mr Jobst video did not further cause Mr Mitchell to lose out on appearances because of a lack of reputation.

He said the trial had heard evidence from several witnesses saying they would happily have Mr Mitchell attend an event, even if they didn’t like him, with one even saying the popular gamer was a money maker for gaming events.

“Just because someone doesn’t like you don’t mean you’re going to be shunned, especially when it comes to fame,” Mr de Waard said.

“People don’t like Tom Cruise but they’ll still go watch his movies, they’ll still go get a selfie if they saw him on the street.

“They won’t shun him.”

Judge Ken Barlow has reserved his decision.

Originally published as William ‘Billy’ James Mitchell sues YouTuber Karl Jobst for defamation in Brisbane