An Australian YouTuber who lost a defamation lawsuit brought against him by a former Donkey Kong world champion has hit back with his own defamation lawsuit. <\/p>\n
Brisbane-based content creator Karl Jobst was last year ordered to pay more than $350,000 to William \u201cBilly\u201d Mitchell, an American gaming personality who has held world record scores in the classic arcade games Donkey Kong and Pac Man, after a District Court judge found Jobst had defamed Mitchell in a video uploaded in May 2021.<\/p>\n
Jobst rose to prominence on the online video platform through his coverage of cheating allegations in the gaming and speedrunning community and had previously accused Mitchell of cheating to obtain his high scores.<\/p>\n
He also holds his own world records for speedrunning games like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark.<\/p>\n
Mitchell sued Jobst in Australia, claiming the YouTuber had defamed him by falsely suggesting Mitchell had contributed to the suicide of YouTuber Ben Smith \u2014 known online as Apollo Legend.<\/p>\n
Jobst was unable to pay the $350,000 in damages handed down by the court and filed for bankruptcy in May 2025.<\/p>\n
Jobst has now filed defamation proceedings against Mitchell in a US court, accusing Mitchell of \u201cdefamation\u201d, \u201cunauthorised appropriation of name or likeness\u201d and \u201cintentional infliction of emotional distress\u201d in a series of statements and posts following the verdict.<\/p>\n
The complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, with Jobst acting \u201cpro se\u201d (or \u201con his own behalf\u201d).<\/p>\n
In court documents, Jobst points to Mitchell republishing a post on X (formerly Twitter) linking to a Reddit post alleging Jobst \u201chad engaged in illegal conduct to defraud creditors\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Reddit post\u2019s assertions were false. The conversation referenced in the post contained no statement in which Jobst boasted about or admitted to moving assets to his wife, and Jobst did not transfer assets to his wife to defeat creditors or engage in any unlawful conduct in connection with his bankruptcy,\u201d Jobst writes in his complaint.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response to Mitchell\u2019s republication, multiple readers replied by stating that Jobst had engaged in \u2018fraud\u2019, \u2018bankruptcy fraud\u2019 and other unlawful conduct, reflecting how Mitchell\u2019s post conveyed and reinforced an allegation of criminal wrongdoing to its audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jobst also points to another X post where Mitchell claims Jobst had \u201cengaged in serious illegal activity\u201d before and during the bankruptcy process.<\/p>\n
He said the statement was false and the bankruptcy trustee investigations had identified \u201cno offences\u201d in relation to Jobst\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n
The documents state Mitchell made another post on June 29, 2025 mocking Jobst\u2019s complaints.<\/p>\n
It was accompanied by a cartoon image depicting Mitchell hanging Jobst. <\/p>\n
Jobst also points comments made by Mitchell on his own YouTube channel, where he discusses a GoFundMe Jobst had previously set up to cover his legal proceedings in Australia.<\/p>\n
Mitchell is quoted as saying Jobst \u201ccreated a GoFundMe with the knowledge and intent to fund the existing lawsuit on false premises\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foregoing statements were false,\u201d Jobst writes.<\/p>\n
The documents state Mitchell made further statements alleging Jobst had \u201cscammed his viewers out of $200,000\u201d and \u201cmore than $500,000\u201d. <\/p>\n
Jobst states the statements are false and they \u201cimpute fraudulent fundraising and dishonest conduct\u201d relating to the donations.<\/p>\n
He also accuses Mitchell of engaging in a \u201ccourse of conduct\u201d using Jobst\u2019s name and likeness to sell and promote his hot sauce business, Rickey\u2019s World Famous Hot Sauce.<\/p>\n
The documents state Mitchell used the promotional codes \u201cJOBST\u201d, \u201cKARL LOST\u201d and \u201cKARL LOBST\u201d and offered a \u201cSigned Billy Mitchell Red Joystick\u201d through his website \u2014 depicting Jobst as a red lobster.<\/p>\n
Jobst goes on to allege Mitchell paired references to Jobst\u2019s financial condition with the promotion of his commercial products – including the use of discount codes referencing bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
He further claims Mitchell endorsed statements \u201cadvocating harm to Jobst\u2019s livelihood\u201d, referenced his assets and financial positions and invoked \u201congoing litigation\u201d in a manner indicating pressure rather than legitimate dispute resolution\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMitchell engaged in repeated public ridicule and degrading commentary directed at Jobst, including statements attacking Jobst\u2019s character and personal circumstances, and portraying him in a humiliating and demeaning manner before a public audience,\u201d the documents state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese statements were not isolated but formed part of a sustained course of conduct intended to demean Jobst, damage his reputation, and undermine his standing with his audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jobst claims he has suffered severe emotional distress \u2014 including \u201cmental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment and ongoing emotional harm\u201d \u2014 as well as experiencing disruption to his sleep requiring treatment, and \u201congoing personal and professional stress\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also claims Mitchell\u2019s defamation has led to injury to his reputation and lost future earnings and diminished earning capacity.<\/p>\n
Mitchell has not yet filed a defence.<\/p>\n
In a statement to NewsWire, Jobst said: \u201cI filed this action in response to ongoing false and defamatory statements concerning my bankruptcy and crowd-funding, which are contradicted by the documentary record. Those statements have caused great harm to my reputation, career, and income.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cPrevailing in a prior defamation case does not create any entitlement to make further defamatory statements without legal consequence,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of this lawsuit is to have those issues determined through the court process, to vindicate my reputation, and to hold the responsible party accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
NewsWire contacted Mitchell for further comment.<\/p>\n
In a statement on X on April 10 \u2014 two days after Jobst filed the complaint \u2014 he posted: \u201cI look forward to winning Best Supporting Actor again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ufeff\u2018Reckless disregard\u2019: Judge\u2019s brutal lawsuit call<\/p>\n
The new defamation case follows the District Court in Queensland handing down a brutal verdict on Mitchell\u2019s defamation claim in April 2025. <\/p>\n
In his judgment, District Court Judge Ken Barlow drew on medieval imagery to describe the dispute, suggesting Jobst had cast himself in the role of a self-styled \u201ccrusader\u201d taking on Mitchell, who had not backed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Jobst clearly intended to be a knight who slew the Mitchell dragon,\u201d Judge Barlow said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, for him, his lance was not as strong as he believed it to be, and it broke in the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court identified five defamatory imputations within the video, including an allegation that Mr Mitchell had demanded money from Apollo Legend \u2014 a claim Jobst linked to Mitchell\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Jobst\u2019s legal team argued the video contained alternative imputations which were substantially true and therefore Mitchell\u2019s reputation was not further harmed from the Apollo Legend imputation.<\/p>\n
They included that Mitchell was publicly exposed as cheating to obtain his record scores in Donkey Kong, he had \u201ccallously expressed joy\u201d at the thought of Mr Smith\u2019s death and he used \u201clitigation to force third parties to recognise his achievements in video gaming\u201d, among others.<\/p>\n
Judge Barlow found the alternative imputations raised by Jobst were \u201csubstantially true\u201d \u2014 including that Mitchell had cheated to achieve his high scores.<\/p>\n
But he said the imputations from the Apollo Legend comments had caused Mitchell \u201csignificant\u201d personal and reputational harm that \u201coutweighed his pre-existing reputation and the contextual imputations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Jobst has not succeeded on any of his defences on liability,\u201d Judge Barlow wrote in his judgment.<\/p>\n
He found Jobst had acted out of malice, publishing the material without properly checking its accuracy and failing to remove or apologise for it even after it became clear it wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was reckless and showed absolute disregard for the truth or for the effect of this video on Mr Mitchell and his reputation,\u201d Judge Barlow said.<\/p>\n
The judgment also highlighted that Jobst had mocked Mitchell\u2019s legal proceedings, which the court said worsened the reputational harm caused.<\/p>\n
Beyond the $300,000 awarded for non-economic loss, the court also ordered an extra $50,000 in aggravated damages, along with $34,668.50 in interest accrued from the date Jobst\u2019s video was first published.<\/p>\n
Following the decision, Mitchell took to X to respond, writing: \u201cNothing like the smell of victory in the evening air. Billy Mitchell always has a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian YouTuber who lost a defamation lawsuit brought against him by a former Donkey Kong world champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[298120,298092,2095,298091,64,63,689,298116,298105,298117,298106,298087,447,298093,298102,73397,161228,298090,76741,152072,298104,298101,298109,298112,298099,298113,74075,134,298088,2755,298089,6670,298114,298115,298108,298098,298107,185009,298094,2041,2067,677,298097,41460,701,298086,298111,298119,298118,107752,298110,2614,298103,168453,298096,2753,24862,2433,298100,298095],"class_list":{"0":"post-614042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-absolute-disregard","9":"tag-alternative-imputations","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-american-gaming-personality","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","15":"tag-bankruptcy-fraud","16":"tag-bankruptcy-process","17":"tag-bankruptcy-trustee-investigations","18":"tag-blake-antrobus","19":"tag-brutal-lawsuit-call","20":"tag-celebrities","21":"tag-classic-arcade-games","22":"tag-commercial-products","23":"tag-court-documents","24":"tag-court-process","25":"tag-criminal-wrongdoing","26":"tag-defamation-case","27":"tag-defamation-lawsuit","28":"tag-defamation-proceedings","29":"tag-defamatory-statements","30":"tag-defo-battle","31":"tag-defo-loss","32":"tag-diminished-earning-capacity","33":"tag-documentary-record","34":"tag-emotional-distress","35":"tag-entertainment","36":"tag-evening-air","37":"tag-florida","38":"tag-judge-ken-barlow","39":"tag-legal-proceedings","40":"tag-legitimate-dispute-resolution","41":"tag-lodges-defamation-lawsuit","42":"tag-manner-indicating-pressure","43":"tag-medieval-imagery","44":"tag-multiple-readers","45":"tag-newswire-court","46":"tag-non-economic-loss","47":"tag-north-america","48":"tag-northern-america","49":"tag-oceania","50":"tag-online-video-platform","51":"tag-professional-stress","52":"tag-queensland","53":"tag-record-scores","54":"tag-reputational-harm","55":"tag-responsible-party","56":"tag-sauce-business","57":"tag-twitter-inc","58":"tag-united-states-district-court","59":"tag-united-states-of-america","60":"tag-unlawful-conduct","61":"tag-video-gaming","62":"tag-william-billy-mitchell","63":"tag-world-champion","64":"tag-world-record","65":"tag-world-record-holder","66":"tag-world-record-scores","67":"tag-youtuber-karl-jobst"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}