Arcade gaming legend Billy "King of Kong" Mitchell has been awarded nearly a quarter of a million dollars in damages following a successful defamation lawsuit against Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst. The ruling, as reported by PC Gamer, stems from a video Jobst posted titled "The Biggest Conmen in Video Game History Strike Again!" which garnered 500,000 views. The court found that the video contained defamatory, inaccurate, and unsubstantiated claims about Mitchell.
Mitchell, known as the "King of Kong," faced controversy in 2018 when his high scores were removed from Twin Galaxies' leaderboards amid allegations he used a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) instead of arcade cabinets to achieve records in games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong Jr. After a six-year battle, Mitchell managed to have his records reinstated in a "historical database" on Twin Galaxies' website, and his scores were also recognized again by the Guinness World Records in 2020.
The defamation lawsuit against Jobst was not directly related to the validity of Mitchell's Donkey Kong scores. Instead, Mitchell took legal action over Jobst's video, which allegedly implied that Mitchell's prior lawsuit against another YouTuber, Benjamin "Apollo Legend" Smith, led to Smith paying out $1 million in damages and contributed to Smith's tragic suicide in 2020. The video also reportedly suggested Mitchell had expressed pleasure at the thought of Smith's suicide.
Following legal threats from Mitchell, Jobst edited the video, and it was later confirmed by Smith's brother that no money had been paid. Jobst acknowledged his loss on X/Twitter, stating that the judge found Mitchell to be a credible witness and believed his entire testimony. Jobst emphasized that he did not accuse Mitchell of cheating and that his claims about Smith were based on incorrect information from multiple sources.
"I lost. The judge found Billy to be a credible witness and believed his entire testimony," Jobst said, adding, "From that point on unfortunately there was really nothing that could have saved me. I will now obviously consider my options."
Jobst expressed regret to his supporters and vowed to work hard to repay their support. In a subsequent update, he stated, "I am proud that I never backed down and never allowed a bully to control my free expression."
The judge ordered Jobst to pay $187,800 (AU$300,000) for non-economic loss, $31,300 (AU$50,000) for aggravated damages, and $22,000 (AU$34,668.50) in interest, totaling around $241,000. The judge noted, "[Mitchell] may well have been justified in being ordered to pay more than AU$50,000 in aggravated damages, but that is the amount being sought by Mr Mitchell and that is the amount I shall award."
Mitchell first gained fame in the arcade gaming community for achieving a perfect score in Pac-Man in the '80s and later rose to broader recognition through the 2007 documentary, King of Kong, which chronicled his rivalry with Steve Wiebe.
