YouTuber Karl Jobst lodges defamation lawsuit against Donkey Kong world record holder Billy Mitchell

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. Brisbane-based content creator Karl Jobst was last year ordered to pay more than $350,000 to William “Billy” 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. 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. He also holds his own world records for speedrunning games like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. Mitchell sued Jobst in Australia, claiming the YouTuber had defamed him by falsely suggesting Mitchell had contributed to the suicide of YouTuber Ben Smith — known online as Apollo Legend. Jobst was unable to pay the $350,000 in damages handed down by the court and filed for bankruptcy in May 2025. Jobst has now filed defamation proceedings against Mitchell in a US court, accusing Mitchell of “defamation”, “unauthorised appropriation of name or likeness” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress” in a series of statements and posts following the verdict. The complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, with Jobst acting “pro se” (or “on his own behalf”). In court documents, Jobst points to Mitchell republishing a post on X (formerly Twitter) linking to a Reddit post alleging Jobst “had engaged in illegal conduct to defraud creditors”. “The Reddit post’s 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,” Jobst writes in his complaint. “In response to Mitchell’s republication, multiple readers replied by stating that Jobst had engaged in ‘fraud’, ‘bankruptcy fraud’ and other unlawful conduct, reflecting how Mitchell’s post conveyed and reinforced an allegation of criminal wrongdoing to its audience.” Jobst also points to another X post where Mitchell claims Jobst had “engaged in serious illegal activity” before and during the bankruptcy process. He said the statement was false and the bankruptcy trustee investigations had identified “no offences” in relation to Jobst’s affairs. The documents state Mitchell made another post on June 29, 2025 mocking Jobst’s complaints. It was accompanied by a cartoon image depicting Mitchell hanging Jobst. 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. Mitchell is quoted as saying Jobst “created a GoFundMe with the knowledge and intent to fund the existing lawsuit on false premises”. “The foregoing statements were false,” Jobst writes. The documents state Mitchell made further statements alleging Jobst had “scammed his viewers out of $200,000” and “more than $500,000”. Jobst states the statements are false and they “impute fraudulent fundraising and dishonest conduct” relating to the donations. He also accuses Mitchell of engaging in a “course of conduct” using Jobst’s name and likeness to sell and promote his hot sauce business, Rickey’s World Famous Hot Sauce. The documents state Mitchell used the promotional codes “JOBST”, “KARL LOST” and “KARL LOBST” and offered a “Signed Billy Mitchell Red Joystick” through his website — depicting Jobst as a red lobster. Jobst goes on to allege Mitchell paired references to Jobst’s financial condition with the promotion of his commercial products - including the use of discount codes referencing bankruptcy. He further claims Mitchell endorsed statements “advocating harm to Jobst’s livelihood”, referenced his assets and financial positions and invoked “ongoing litigation” in a manner indicating pressure rather than legitimate dispute resolution”. “Mitchell engaged in repeated public ridicule and degrading commentary directed at Jobst, including statements attacking Jobst’s character and personal circumstances, and portraying him in a humiliating and demeaning manner before a public audience,” the documents state. “These 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.” Jobst claims he has suffered severe emotional distress — including “mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment and ongoing emotional harm” — as well as experiencing disruption to his sleep requiring treatment, and “ongoing personal and professional stress”. He also claims Mitchell’s defamation has led to injury to his reputation and lost future earnings and diminished earning capacity. Mitchell has not yet filed a defence. In a statement to NewsWire, Jobst said: “I 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.” “Prevailing in a prior defamation case does not create any entitlement to make further defamatory statements without legal consequence,” he continued. “The 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.” NewsWire contacted Mitchell for further comment. In a statement on X on April 10 — two days after Jobst filed the complaint — he posted: “I look forward to winning Best Supporting Actor again.” ‘Reckless disregard’: Judge’s brutal lawsuit call The new defamation case follows the District Court in Queensland handing down a brutal verdict on Mitchell’s defamation claim in April 2025. 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 “crusader” taking on Mitchell, who had not backed down. “Mr Jobst clearly intended to be a knight who slew the Mitchell dragon,” Judge Barlow said. “Unfortunately, for him, his lance was not as strong as he believed it to be, and it broke in the contest.” The court identified five defamatory imputations within the video, including an allegation that Mr Mitchell had demanded money from Apollo Legend — a claim Jobst linked to Mitchell’s death. Jobst’s legal team argued the video contained alternative imputations which were substantially true and therefore Mitchell’s reputation was not further harmed from the Apollo Legend imputation. They included that Mitchell was publicly exposed as cheating to obtain his record scores in Donkey Kong, he had “callously expressed joy” at the thought of Mr Smith’s death and he used “litigation to force third parties to recognise his achievements in video gaming”, among others. Judge Barlow found the alternative imputations raised by Jobst were “substantially true” — including that Mitchell had cheated to achieve his high scores. But he said the imputations from the Apollo Legend comments had caused Mitchell “significant” personal and reputational harm that “outweighed his pre-existing reputation and the contextual imputations”. “Mr Jobst has not succeeded on any of his defences on liability,” Judge Barlow wrote in his judgment. 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’t true. “It was reckless and showed absolute disregard for the truth or for the effect of this video on Mr Mitchell and his reputation,” Judge Barlow said. The judgment also highlighted that Jobst had mocked Mitchell’s legal proceedings, which the court said worsened the reputational harm caused. 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’s video was first published. Following the decision, Mitchell took to X to respond, writing: “Nothing like the smell of victory in the evening air. Billy Mitchell always has a plan.” Mental health help lines