Billy Mitchell vs. Karl Jobst / Donkey Kong Cheating Controversy

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About

Billy Mitchell vs. Karl Jobst refers to an ongoing legal battle between the YouTuber and speedrunning historian Karl Jobst and the infamous Donkey Kong player Billy Mitchell over Karl's reporting of alleged inconsistencies in Billy's Donkey Kong scores. As a direct result of Karl Jobst's videos detailing Mitchell's gameplay as "faked" or accusations of cheating, Billy has sued Jobst in two separate instances. The viral conflict between the two and the ensuing Donkey Kong Cheating Controversy has been widely discussed and referenced online throughout the early 2020s.

Background

On July 23rd, 2020, Karl Jobst uploaded a YouTube video on his channel titled "Guinness World Records Should Stay Out Of Gaming"^[1] in which he briefly went over the history of the company's involvement with video games (notably in publishing high scores from the earlier days of arcade gaming) and its current role in gaming records — most notably with them confirming Billy Mitchell's scores in Donkey Kong despite alleged evidence existing that Jobst suggests questions the legitimacy of Mitchell's scores (shown below, left). The video from Jobst has since earned over 1 million views in two years (shown below, right).

[This video has been removed]

Karl Jobst would then go on to upload three more videos going over Billy Mitchell's history of suing YouTubers and the company Twin Galaxies, who originally bestowed and then revoked Billy's title as the best in Donkey Kong, culminating in a final video about his case being dismissed by a judge that was uploaded on August 21st, 2021. During that video, titled "Billy Mitchell Gets DESTROYED By Judge,"^[2] it is revealed that Mitchell's legal team has threatened Jobst with a lawsuit for his previous allegations of cheating, however Notch notably agreed and began to cover legal fees for Jobst around this time (shown below).

Later in the year, on June 4th, 2021, Mitchell then responded to Jobst's video with one of his own, titled "Response to Karl Jobst Regarding Apollo Legend"^[3] going over the claims made by Jobst and stating that they are false and without reason, earning over 128,000 views in one year (shown below).

Developments

Formal Lawsuit

On September 23rd, 2021, Karl Jobst uploaded a video titled "I'm Being SUED and CANCELLED"^[4] in which he details his first lawsuit at the hands of Mitchell. This wouldn't be the first one, however, with a follow-up video coming out on November 5th, 2022, titled "Billy Mitchell Has Gone Insane And I Need Your Help,"^[5] which details the second and third lawsuit by Mitchell filed against Jobst. The two videos have gained over 1 million and 820,000 views, respectively, in roughly three months (shown below).

Photos of Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet

On January 29th, 2023, Karl Jobst then uploaded a video going over a key part of the lawsuit that claims Billy Mitchell obtained a score of over 1 million points in Donkey Kong on original hardware at a Florida convention, showcasing alleged photographic evidence that the machine itself had non-original hardware on it (and was reportedly the only Donkey Kong arcade machine at the event).

This development led to speculation from detractors of Mitchell that his cases are now guaranteed to be lost, as explained by Cr1tikal in his video^[6] about the event, uploaded on January 30th, 2023, which received over 3 million views in one day (shown below, left). Additional YouTubers and content creators covered the development in late January 2023 as word of the cheating allegations spread online (example shown below, right)