Benjamin Smith † (August 15, 1994 – December 30, 2020 [aged 26]), better known online as Apollo Legend, was a YouTuber who made commentary videos on YouTube, in which he showed various examples of fake speedruns, top 10 or giving news.
Channel History
Apollo created his channel on June 10, 2016, and uploaded a video on September 10, 2016 titled "When Torje Comes to Town", which got 16,030 views (as of June 2, 2021).
After the release of that video, Apollo changed his type of format, talking primarily about the various users known in the Speedrunning community being banned or top videos about speedrun moments.
His first channel spotlight in the Speedrun community happened when Apollo made two videos about Billy Mitchell & Todd Rogers, two record holders considered to hold cheated world records.
After these two videos, Apollo started to be recognized by the community in a both positive and negative way.
Controversies
Since the creation of the channel, Apollo got a lot of controversy due to his extreme opinions and biases on the speedrunning community. Due to this, Apollo had several dramas regarding his channel.
Games Done Quick
Apollo had always shown hatred towards Games Done Quick, a group created to raise funds to help defeat cancer.
One of the many infamous controversies he had regarding GDQ was the one with RWhiteGoose, a speedrunner (and friend of Apollo) banned for his white supremacist, sexist and racist behaviors on Discord DMs.
In the video Apollo made following the ban, he defendend him, saying to "go to RWhiteGoose channel and support him", stating that he was a nice person (after misrepresenting the facts of the situation). The video was later delisted (or removed) due to the backlash caused.
Billy Mitchell
Apollo met Billy Mitchell twice, and in both cases he tried to get an answer to expose his records. For both attempts, Apollo promised a follow-up, but he disappeared every time without ever saying anything.
Billy Mitchell would later send a $10,000 Lawsuit to Apollo, who eventually opened a GoFundMe to take on the challenge. In May 2020, Apollo announced the cancellation of the GoFundMe due to personal issues. Many people initially theorized that this was just an excuse to take the money and run away, but Apollo would eventually refund everyone weeks after the GoFundMe cancellation.
Oceanside
Apollo decided to create his own version of GDQ, called Oceanside. Although at first many people didn't take his GoFundMe and even his trailer seriously, Apollo was able to reach enough funds thanks to the video "10 speedrunners who were caught cheating" (which was also the channel's very first popular video, becoming an introductory video for many people). Unfortunately, Apollo had various problems that separated him from developing the event, one of them being a feud made by Billy.
On April 20, 2018 (the day Oceanside was supposed to start), Reddit user u/Chivesmaster made a thread revealing an email from Apollo, which included a refund for those who had paid for Oceanside, announcing that said event had been canceled.
On November 30, Apollo uploaded the video "Should The Smash Box Be Allowed For Speedrunning?", stating his return once again on the internet. The following day, Apollo made a livestream where he answered various questions about what happened over the past months, stating that he disappeared due to the cancellation of Oceanside and legal threats from Billy Mitchell (although he was not actually sued by Billy at the time of the cancelation).
DarkViperAU & EzScape
DarkViperAU is a Grand Theft Auto V speedrunner mostly known for having a very long debate against Apollo.
On December 26, 2018, DarkViper uploads one of a series of videos exposing Apollo. In all, DarkViper uploaded 6 videos against Apollo.
In 2020, Apollo attacked Darkviper on Twitter for not paying a TikTok editor. As soon as the tweet was posted, the two talked publicly about it, showing Darkviper being in the wrong for the most part. The drama would later get a rapid turn after DarkViper confirmed on a livestream that he did not paid the editor because he were doing his job very poorly, showing to Apollo fans who was right between the two.
Apollo quickly tried to fight back, making a video called "This Speedrunner thinks i'm scum..." (now delisted or removed), in which he attempts to show to the public the real possible intention behind why DarkViper did not pay the editor. Although a small group of people agreed with Apollo video, a large slice of people saw this as a shady way to get attention (due to the questionable quality of the entire video, as if Apollo was trying to take full advantage of his own drama), ending with Apollo being hit by backlash, with his videos being disliked bombed. After the video release, Apollo lost a lot of subscribers; the same amount of views would eventually migrate to DarkViper channel, showing the definitive victory between the two channels.
Another Speedrunner called EzScape would days later upload a video explaining the entire situation. In the video, EzScape talked about his experience with Apollo, considering it "not the best" due to a leech-like behavior that Apollo had most of the times, along with theorizing a possible scam made with the canceled GoFundMe to counter Billy Mitchell lawsuit. EzScape would later delist the video after users on Twitter confirmed they were receiving a refund.
When the drama fully concluded, Apollo announced on Twitter his definitive retirement from the internet, posting a screenshot with a note stating that he had depression for a very long time caused by childhood trauma, and that the drama only made it worse (along with making a community post on YouTube about removing the many videos he made about Billy Mitchell, admitting he lost and how it was a bad idea from the start).
Death
On December 30, 2020, Apollo uploads a video (later took down by YouTube) on his second channel.
The short video included a download link and a very long text in the description. In this text, Apollo names DarkViper, Ezscape and other famous speedrunners/commentators, stating various things about the situations that let him do this hard choice (i.e. calling out the Speedrun Community a "bunch of hypocrites" or about his mental health caused by childhood trauma that worsened over time). The text and the 8-minute downloadable video both includes details regarding Apollo's health, such as daily vomit problems or the many traumas he experienced as a kid.
After the video got released, several youtubers were shocked about the announcement, one among them DramaAlert, who tried to give consolation to Apollo. Unfortunately, it was later announced that Apollo had committed suicide.
After the announcement was made, various YouTubers (including DarkViper himself) gave their tribute to Apollo.
Trivia
- He was one of the few YouTubers to had contact with Todd Rogers & Billy Mitchell.
- Thanks to his videos, TwinGalaxies removed every one of Todd & Billy records, along with permanently banning them.
- He took part in a controversy regarding CaveiraGames, a YouTuber known for cheating a world record in Yu-Gi-Oh: Forbidden Memories and harassing the real record holder.
- He repeatedly theorized where the money obtained from GDQ went, but each time he was always wrong.
- His trailer/announcement for Oceanside became a meme among speedrunners, who made their own version of the event as a joke.
- The video "This Speedrunner thinks i'm scum..." lasted for a while before its initial removal.
- It was also put back online by Apollo himself, but was later re-removed after he officially quit internet when the drama ended.
- Because of this, the hatred was eventually migrated to his "last" video "He Exposed a Cheating Speedrunner...", making it the most viewed video on the channel.
- It was also put back online by Apollo himself, but was later re-removed after he officially quit internet when the drama ended.