‘Michael Jordan’ of arcade games William ‘Billy’ James Mitchell had reputation as video game cheat, court hears

A Brisbane YouTuber being sued by a Donkey Kong arcade game record holder has told a court he believed the American had a reputation as a video game cheat.

William “Billy” James Mitchell arrives at the Brisbane Supreme Court with his son William the 4th, right. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

A Brisbane YouTuber accused of defaming a Donkey Kong record holder by allegedly imputing he hounded another social media figure to death believed he had a reputation as a video game cheat.

Arcade game legend Billy Mitchell, who says the imputation is false, is suing professional YouTuber Karl Jobst for the alleged injury and harm he claims a 2021 video caused.

Mr Jobst disputes the claim, and is relying on a defence of contextual truth, pleading five alternative imputations including the allegation the American was publicly exposed as having cheated to achieve gaming records.

Mr Jobst was asked what his understanding of Mr Mitchell’s reputation was at the time he posted the impugned video to YouTube.

“He had a reputation as a video game cheater. He had a reputation of a vexatious litigant. He had a reputation of, I would say, a pathological liar, someone who couldn’t be trusted,” Mr Jobst claimed as he gave evidence in the Brisbane District Court trial on Thursday.

He said he had gleaned this from what people had said and articles he’d read.

William “Billy” James Mitchell arrives at the Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“What about your understanding of his reputation in the weeks and the months after you posted the video with the offending words, did it change?” Mr Jobst’s barrister Michael de Waard asked.

“Not as far as I saw no,” Mr Jobst said.

Mr Jobst was then cross-examined by Mr Mitchell’s barrister Peter Somers.

“You’ve never actually met Billy Mitchell have you?” he said.

“No I haven’t,” Mr Jobs said.

Earlier Mr Mitchell called a string of witnesses.

Dialling in from Virginia former comic book convention organiser Michael McNutt said Mr Mitchell was “one of the most probably famous video gamers” while Jamaican YouTuber Isaiah Triforce Johnson said he was like the “Michael Jordan” of classic arcade games.

Mr McNutt recalled how Mr Mitchell – who was booked for his 2019 convention – wanted to pay for a ticket for a fan who had cerebral palsy to attend the event. He and another event organiser said they would have no qualms rebooking Mr Mitchell for future events which earned smiles from Mr de Waard.

Karl Jobst outside the Brisbane Supreme Court where he is being sued by former world record holder for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The court has heard a dispute arose over some of Mr Mitchell’s gaming records with the subsequent erasing of them in 2018 by Guinness World Records and the organisation Twin Galaxies. In a further twist the records were later restored by Guinness while Twin Galaxies, who Mr Mitchell initiated court proceedings against, restored the scores to a historical leaders board.

Mr Jobst claimed the reinstatement by Twin Galaxies – which is the subculture’s official keeper of records – – was not really a reinstatement

“Billy Mitchell was not really reinstated to those main leaderboards where people can actually compete,” he said in court.

“What Billy Mitchell was reinstated to was a historical snapshot of what Twin Galaxies was like back in 2014.”

In his evidence Mr Mitchell said during negotiations Twin Galaxies CEO Jace Hall said “if he puts it on a regular leaderboard, he’ll be attacked by the community”.

“So he wanted to create a historical leaderboard that you are not allowed to lodge disputes on. And so that’s what he asked for, and that’s what happened,” the hot sauce manufacturer said.

“And he retracted all the negative comments and accusations and articles that they had printed around that time.”

The court has heard that the current case has nothing to do with whether Mr Mitchell actually cheated or not – which he denies – but Judge Ken Barlow will have to decide whether he had a reputation as a cheater.

In the video at the centre of the trial Mr Jobst, whose YouTube channel currently has more than a million subscribers, talks about Mr Mitchell suing YouTuber Apollo Legend, claiming it left the latter deeply in debt that was “all too much of a burden” due to ongoing health issues and he ultimately committed suicide, the court heard.

Mr Mitchell argues this gave rise to four defamatory imputations which Mr Jobst denies.

Mr Mitchell did launch defamation proceedings against Apollo Legend, who had alleged he cheated to obtain certain Donkey Kong world records, however it was settled by mutual agreement and did not require the payout of any money for damages or costs.

Mr Jobst removed the complained-about words from the video after they were online for about two weeks in total and posted a retraction video.

Originally published as ‘Michael Jordan’ of arcade games William ‘Billy’ James Mitchell had reputation as video game cheat, court hears