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AFAIK the entire lawsuit was about Jobst falsely accusing Mitchell of driving Apollo Legend to suicide and then not properly retracting it (Jobst buried the ret

by ndiddy 2y ago

AFAIK the entire lawsuit was about Jobst falsely accusing Mitchell of driving Apollo Legend to suicide and then not properly retracting it (Jobst buried the retraction at the end of an unrelated 30 minute video). The reason why Mitchell's cheating was brought up in the trial was that Jobst's side were attempting to say that all reputational harm Mitchell suffered during that period was caused by cheating accusations, not Jobst's suicide accusations (as if being accused of cheating at Donkey Kong is equivalent to being accused of driving someone to suicide). Mitchell was able to prove this was false by producing emails from events that specifically said that they weren't hiring him due to Jobst's suicide accusations. Additionally, Jobst kept making videos berating Mitchell during the course of the trial, which seems to have pissed off the judge. From the decision: "Mr Jobst’s attitude seems to me to have been one of, “Well, if I’m going to be sued, I may as well go for broke and damn the consequences.” Far from being evidence of his bona fides, I consider his conduct to be reckless and to show no regard for the truth or for the effect of his video on Mr Mitchell and his reputation."

Dylan16807 2y ago
> Jobst's side were attempting to say that all reputational harm Mitchell suffered during that period was caused by cheating accusations The cheating and the other lies and the rampant lawsuits. I agree with that causing almost all the damage. I hadn't even heard of the particular badly substantiated piece among the real stuff. > (as if being accused of cheating at Donkey Kong is equivalent to being accused of driving someone to suicide) ...no, not as if that. That is not part of the argument.
- ndiddy 2y ago
  I recommend you read the decision if you're interested in this subject: https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/caselaw/qdc/2025/41/pdf https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/caselaw/qdc/2025/41/p... > Mr Mitchell said that John Weeks was the organiser of an auction of the world’s largest collection of pinball and arcade gaming machines. Mr Mitchell had an agreement with him to host the auction for a fee of $50,000. After the publication of the video, Mr Weeks cancelled the agreement, apparently because of the negativity surrounding Mr Mitchell as a result of the video. Mr Mitchell later received an email from Mr Weeks confirming that cancellation, in which he said: > "As per our previous conversation, I apologize for our decision to withdraw our agreement with you to host you at our auction due to the allegations from Karl Jobst that you played a significant role in Apollo Legend’s decision to take his own life. We made the decision strictly for business reasons and I do not feel personal discontent with you, but the negativity brought by the claims presented too large a risk to us strictly from a business perspective." > Mr Mitchell recalled that another person, Ryan Burger, who had booked him for three separate events, cancelled all three and has not since booked him to appear at any events. Mr Burger also sent him an email cancelling the third event, saying: > "Due to the toxicity and negativity brought by Karl Jobst’s claim that you played a role in Apollo Legend’s decision to take his own life, Old School Gamer Magazine feels compelled to withdraw its $5,000 per weekend paid appearance offer also for the Midwest Gaming Classic. I had hoped that this would have faded by now so we didn’t have to cancel this event similar to Des Moines Gaming Classic and Planet Comicon appearances that we had withdrawn earlier this summer, but I think it’s best that we allow some time to pass given the current climate." > Whether or not the reasons given in those emails were true, the withdrawal of the offers demonstrated a harmful effect of the video on Mr Mitchell’s reputation and the receipt of the emails affected Mr Mitchell’s personal reactions to the video. Jobst's team argued that the suicide accusation didn't cause any damage because Mitchell's already poor reputation and the other claims he made in the video meant that it couldn't be harmed further. The judge pointed out in his decision that the cheating allegations and the suicide allegations impacted different "sectors" of Mitchell's reputation and that "In seeking to prove that the plaintiff already had a bad reputation (whether as a defence to an allegation of harm to reputation or because of substantially true contextual imputations), the allegedly bad reputation must be relevant to that “sector” of the plaintiff’s reputation that is, or may be, harmed by the imputations proved by the plaintiff." You're right that Jobst's team didn't literally argue that cheating at Donkey Kong is equivalent to being accused of driving someone to suicide.
  - lesuorac 2y ago
    My main concern would be these seem to be fabricated claims. Mr Mitchell still was invited to the auction and attended it [1]. Ryan Burger seems to have never invited Mitchel to any events at all [2] prior to the video and yet shortly before the video was posted he invited him 3 times and canceled all of them? These guys seem to be people that Mitchell has been friends with for very long times so it seems more reasonable to me they'd help him out with an email or two when it's literally at no cost to them. Where's an email from some Stock Brokers convention reneging on an appearance deal or a merchandise supplier asking him to find a new supplier? That said, IIUC Australian is not as loose as the US is when making verbal claims about other people so claiming "Billy caused Apollo to kill himself" is a much weaker claim to make then "Billy is happy Apollo killed himself". [1]: https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/2021/09/24/museum-pinball-hosts-person-auction-arcade-legend-billy-mitchell-attends/5853542001/ https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/2021/09/24/museum-pinba... [2]: https://www.google.com/search?q=Ryan+Burger+Billy+Mitchell https://www.google.com/search?q=Ryan+Burger+Billy+Mitchell
    - 0dayz 2y ago
      While I don't disagree, issue is that this is something that was Jobst's responsibility for presenting to dispute Mitchell's evidence of having been harmed due to the allegation to have driven someone to suicide. It's disappointing to Jobst credibility, especially since I remember Jobst hyping up/bragging about the court case as an easy slam dunk for Jobst.

by ndiddy 2y ago

Dylan16807 2y ago

> Jobst's side were attempting to say that all reputational harm Mitchell suffered during that period was caused by cheating accusations The cheating and the other lies and the rampant lawsuits. I agree with that causing almost all the damage. I hadn't even heard of the particular badly substantiated piece among the real stuff. > (as if being accused of cheating at Donkey Kong is equivalent to being accused of driving someone to suicide) ...no, not as if that. That is not part of the argument.

ndiddy 2y ago
I recommend you read the decision if you're interested in this subject: https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/caselaw/qdc/2025/41/pdf https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/caselaw/qdc/2025/41/p... > Mr Mitchell said that John Weeks was the organiser of an auction of the world’s largest collection of pinball and arcade gaming machines. Mr Mitchell had an agreement with him to host the auction for a fee of $50,000. After the publication of the video, Mr Weeks cancelled the agreement, apparently because of the negativity surrounding Mr Mitchell as a result of the video. Mr Mitchell later received an email from Mr Weeks confirming that cancellation, in which he said: > "As per our previous conversation, I apologize for our decision to withdraw our agreement with you to host you at our auction due to the allegations from Karl Jobst that you played a significant role in Apollo Legend’s decision to take his own life. We made the decision strictly for business reasons and I do not feel personal discontent with you, but the negativity brought by the claims presented too large a risk to us strictly from a business perspective." > Mr Mitchell recalled that another person, Ryan Burger, who had booked him for three separate events, cancelled all three and has not since booked him to appear at any events. Mr Burger also sent him an email cancelling the third event, saying: > "Due to the toxicity and negativity brought by Karl Jobst’s claim that you played a role in Apollo Legend’s decision to take his own life, Old School Gamer Magazine feels compelled to withdraw its $5,000 per weekend paid appearance offer also for the Midwest Gaming Classic. I had hoped that this would have faded by now so we didn’t have to cancel this event similar to Des Moines Gaming Classic and Planet Comicon appearances that we had withdrawn earlier this summer, but I think it’s best that we allow some time to pass given the current climate." > Whether or not the reasons given in those emails were true, the withdrawal of the offers demonstrated a harmful effect of the video on Mr Mitchell’s reputation and the receipt of the emails affected Mr Mitchell’s personal reactions to the video. Jobst's team argued that the suicide accusation didn't cause any damage because Mitchell's already poor reputation and the other claims he made in the video meant that it couldn't be harmed further. The judge pointed out in his decision that the cheating allegations and the suicide allegations impacted different "sectors" of Mitchell's reputation and that "In seeking to prove that the plaintiff already had a bad reputation (whether as a defence to an allegation of harm to reputation or because of substantially true contextual imputations), the allegedly bad reputation must be relevant to that “sector” of the plaintiff’s reputation that is, or may be, harmed by the imputations proved by the plaintiff." You're right that Jobst's team didn't literally argue that cheating at Donkey Kong is equivalent to being accused of driving someone to suicide.
- lesuorac 2y ago
  My main concern would be these seem to be fabricated claims. Mr Mitchell still was invited to the auction and attended it [1]. Ryan Burger seems to have never invited Mitchel to any events at all [2] prior to the video and yet shortly before the video was posted he invited him 3 times and canceled all of them? These guys seem to be people that Mitchell has been friends with for very long times so it seems more reasonable to me they'd help him out with an email or two when it's literally at no cost to them. Where's an email from some Stock Brokers convention reneging on an appearance deal or a merchandise supplier asking him to find a new supplier? That said, IIUC Australian is not as loose as the US is when making verbal claims about other people so claiming "Billy caused Apollo to kill himself" is a much weaker claim to make then "Billy is happy Apollo killed himself". [1]: https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/2021/09/24/museum-pinball-hosts-person-auction-arcade-legend-billy-mitchell-attends/5853542001/ https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/2021/09/24/museum-pinba... [2]: https://www.google.com/search?q=Ryan+Burger+Billy+Mitchell https://www.google.com/search?q=Ryan+Burger+Billy+Mitchell
  - 0dayz 2y ago
    While I don't disagree, issue is that this is something that was Jobst's responsibility for presenting to dispute Mitchell's evidence of having been harmed due to the allegation to have driven someone to suicide. It's disappointing to Jobst credibility, especially since I remember Jobst hyping up/bragging about the court case as an easy slam dunk for Jobst.