Well over a year ago, somewhere on the TG forum after the hammer came down, I speculated that Billy might be so inclined as to claim some form of "loss of income" related to all those appearance fees he became accustomed to receiving, so I was not at all surprised at how that did indeed become part of one (or more) of his lawsuits. But I think that Billy also, more than the money, misses the attention he would receive at every stage of the trip, the recognition, etc.
The reality is that DK is now 40+ years old, and while the record itself is still an achievement to be proud of for whoever holds the crown at any given time, the days of the media falling all over itself as it did when Wiebe's first score was announced are long since gone. Even two women who most recently gave birth to 9 and 10 kids received nowhere near the attention that "Octomom" did over a decade ago.
For Billy to expect that the "gravy train" would just keep rolling along, especially when he was not on top, is totally unrealistic. The media opportunities did not dry up as he believes because of his scores getting yanked...he's simply not on top anymore, in fact he's not even top ten. That's not a slam against Billy, it's simply a matter of fact. And it's not that he does not play well, it's just that there are now more players who are far better.
The "gravy train" and the "limelight" are largely gone, and that's besides the score removal issue. If you think about it, if it was not for the lawsuits currently underway, his name would not exactly be popping up regularly in social media.
The recent attempt at a "beyond perfect" score on "Pacman" largely floundered. I think he "found" six extra dots on the anniversary edition and took around 10 days to pull off getting them all. Not exactly media worthy. Even today, a simple Google search of "perfect Pacman" will inevitably result in 3,333,360 coming up.
Someone suggested that this whole lawsuit thing is nothing more than to rev up interest in a possible sequel or re-do of KoK which, after 14 years now, the possible interest in such a project is purely speculative...but if some believed there was a big payday involved, who knows.
As for suing for other forms of lost income, such as any drop in revenue from either the restaurant(s) or the hot sauce company, I can't see any judge siding with the "logic" that his high scores created some form of tourist attraction out of the restaurants or of interest in the hot sauce business itself. Celebs buy and run businesses all the time...some thrive, most flounder. It just doesn't stand to reason that if restaurants owned by A-List celebs folded even with the star power of whoever is behind them that Billy's restaurants and hot sauce are continuing because of his high scores. The parallel is just too weak to be reasonable and viable.
Even Planet Hollywood no longer is packing them in like years back, and this place was originally backed by three of the biggest action film box office draws from the 90's, and their claims to fame are a LOT more well known than a high score on Pacman (a shared score at that, as the "beyond perfect" score is a colossal joke)
I won't even mention how overall restaurant revenue is down across the entire country for 15+ months now due to the pandemic. As for the hot sauce business, there are hundreds if not thousands of brands out there, many of which are as good as Billy's and a good number of which are way better. So if business is down in the hot sauce business any good lawyer could argue that while he is wasting his time on lawsuits the number of his competitors just keeps growing. "Rickey's" is quite literally one out of several hundred or more right now. Cue up "hot sauce" or "best hot sauce" via Google search and so many others come up first.
As for his being "defamed", that he pretty much did to himself...and his recorded conversation with David just goes to show the kind of person he truly is. Ultimately I envision that much as certain other well known celebs over the years said this or that which shot their own fame in the foot (and then some), Billy will be known for that as well.
He may end up being known as a one-time great player who could not stand being anything but number one...not unlike the "South Park" cartoon...and may even become more well known for his series of lawsuits than for the actual scores that he did do at one point, excluding the few that he did not under original hardware.
So long as he does not have to pony up any of his own money he will launch lawsuit after lawsuit, something that I hope will come to an end if sanity prevails in the legislative body and torte reform is enacted to prevent such nuissance lawsuits and frivolous ones as well.
The pandemic is still with us after 15 months, well over a half million people have died, the world's economy is not good right now...I won't even go into the state of American politics...and Billy's priority, for well over a year now, is his Donkey Kong scores. That pretty much says it all.
