You probably know the name Billy Mitchell. He’s the guy with the American flag tie and the perfect hair from The King of Kong. For years, he was the face of competitive arcade gaming. Then things got messy. Records were stripped, lawsuits were filed, and the internet basically turned into a 24/7 courtroom. But the real explosion happened when Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst stepped into the ring. If you’ve been following the Karl Jobst and Billy Mitchell saga, you know it isn’t just about Donkey Kong scores anymore. It’s about a massive legal battle that actually reached a verdict in April 2025.
It's wild.
Most people think this was all about whether Billy cheated. It wasn't. While the "MAME vs. Arcade" debate is what started the fire, the lawsuit that cost Karl Jobst hundreds of thousands of dollars was about something much more serious. It was about the death of another YouTuber named Apollo Legend.
The Video That Changed Everything
Back in May 2021, Karl Jobst uploaded a video. It was called "The Biggest Conmen in Video Game History Strike Again!" That’s a heavy title. In that video, Karl didn't just talk about high scores. He made some very specific claims about a settlement between Billy Mitchell and Benjamin Smith (Apollo Legend).
Karl basically told his audience that Billy had "hounded" Apollo Legend to death. He claimed Billy forced Apollo to pay a massive sum of money in a settlement, which led to Apollo’s tragic suicide in late 2020.
Here’s the thing: that was wrong.
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The court eventually found that no money actually changed hands in that settlement. Apollo Legend did have to take down his videos and assign copyrights to Billy, but there was no million-dollar payout. Karl had relied on some bad info and, according to the judge, didn't do enough to check if it was true before hitting upload.
Karl Jobst and Billy Mitchell: The $350,000 Verdict
On April 1, 2025, the District Court of Queensland dropped the hammer. Judge Ken Barlow KC didn't hold back. He ordered Karl Jobst to pay Billy Mitchell a total of AU$350,000 in damages.
Break it down and it looks like this:
- AU$300,000 for general damages (reputation damage).
- AU$50,000 for "aggravated" damages.
- Plus interest and legal costs.
Why the extra $50k? The judge said Karl showed "clear malice." He pointed out that Karl mocked the legal threats on Twitter, called the case an "amazing experience," and basically treated the whole thing like a game. The court saw it as a "crusade" where Karl wanted to be the "knight who slew the Mitchell dragon."
Honestly, the legal language was brutal. The judge described Karl as having a "self-aggrandising" tendency and a refusal to back down even when he was wrong. That’s a tough pill to swallow for a guy who built his brand on being the "truth-teller" of the gaming world.
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Does This Mean Billy Didn't Cheat?
No. This is the part everyone gets confused about.
The Australian court was very clear: they weren't deciding if Billy Mitchell cheated at Donkey Kong. They were only deciding if Karl Jobst defamed him by saying he caused a man's suicide.
In fact, the judge actually acknowledged that Billy did have a pre-existing bad reputation as a cheat. Karl’s lawyers tried to use this as a defense. They argued that Billy’s reputation was already so bad that Karl couldn't possibly damage it more.
The judge didn't buy it. He ruled that while Billy might have a bad reputation in the "gaming world" for his scores, being accused of driving someone to suicide is a different level of damage. It’s a different "sector" of reputation. You can be a cheater and still be defamed if someone calls you a murderer or a person who hounded someone to death.
The Fallout: Bankruptcy and Backlash
The aftermath has been pretty grim for the Australian YouTuber. By May 2025, Karl Jobst filed for voluntary bankruptcy. He simply couldn't pay the AU$350,000 plus the massive interest and Mitchell's legal fees.
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Public opinion shifted, too. For a long time, Karl was the hero of the "anti-Billy" crowd. But when the details of the trial came out—especially the parts about Karl ignoring corrections from Apollo Legend's own family—some of his supporters felt misled. Some people who donated to his legal defense fund felt like they were paying for a personal vendetta rather than a fight for the truth.
Meanwhile, Billy Mitchell has used this victory to try and reclaim his image. He had already settled his separate lawsuit with Twin Galaxies in early 2024, which resulted in his scores being moved to a "historical" database. He’s still banned from modern leaderboards, but he’s walking around with a massive legal win in his pocket.
What You Should Take Away From This
This whole mess is a massive lesson for content creators. You can’t just say whatever you want because someone is "the bad guy." Facts matter. Evidence matters.
If you're following the Karl Jobst and Billy Mitchell situation, here are the cold, hard realities as of 2026:
- Defamation is expensive: Even if you think you're "the good guy," making false claims about someone's role in a tragedy will get you sued—and you will lose.
- Reputation is segmented: Just because someone is known for one bad thing (cheating) doesn't mean you can safely accuse them of something worse (causing a death).
- Check your sources: Karl’s biggest mistake wasn't the initial error; it was staying "recklessly indifferent" to the truth even after new information came to light.
If you’re a creator, the best thing you can do is audit your own "investigative" content. If you've made claims about legal settlements or personal lives based on second-hand info, it might be time to double-check those sources. The "Knight vs. Dragon" narrative makes for great YouTube views, but it makes for a terrible legal defense.
For everyone else, just remember that the "truth" in these internet feuds is usually buried under layers of ego and legal filings. Always look for the primary court documents before picking a side.