Beyond wrongful termination, a new lawsuit against Will Smith accused the entertainer of “deliberately grooming and priming” a tour member “for further sexual exploitation.”
(Video Credit: NBC News)
Nearly four years since the “slap heard round the world,” the actor and rapper had concluded a tour for a new album and was ready to premiere a globetrotting National Geographic series titled “Pole to Pole.”
At the same time, a new controversy had emerged for Smith as a violinist who’d been hired to perform with the “Based on a True Story” tour alleged he’d been retaliated against after raising concerns about the star and someone entering his room, sparking fears of a return “to engage in sexual acts.”
Filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, the lawsuit brought by violinist Brian King Joseph claimed he’d been wrongfully terminated for reporting sexual harassment as well as reporting an incident in Las Vegas.
According to the suit, “The facts strongly suggest that Defendant William Carroll Smith II was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation. The sequence of events, Smith’s prior statements to Plaintiff, and the circumstances of the hotel intrusion all point to a pattern of predatory behavior rather than an isolated incident.”
Among the claims made by Joseph, a former “America’s Got Talent” contestant who explained he’d been hired for the tour in December 2024, the musician alleged that Smith had told him they had a “special connection, that I don’t have with anyone else,” while spending time alone together.
The suit further claimed that on March 20, 2025, the violinist’s hotel room in Las Vegas had been entered unlawfully, with Joseph describing how he’d discovered a note reading “Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us (drawn heart) Stone F,” along with a backpack, beer bottle, earring, wipes, HIV medication and a stranger’s hospital discharge paperwork.
“Plaintiff feared that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts with Plaintiff,” read the filing that claimed Tim Miller, a representative for Smith, said after the incident was reported. “Everyone is telling me that what happened to you is a lie, nothing happened, and you made the whole thing up. So, tell me, why did you lie and make this up?”
In the wake of his termination, Joseph alleged “PTSD and other mental illness” as a result.
Joseph’s lawsuit comes more than two years after another suit over allegations of homosexual activity involving Smith when the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, had declared, “We suin’,” when former associate Bilaal Salaam claimed to have witnessed a sexual act between actor Duane Martin and Smith.
Meanwhile, Smith’s attorney, Allen B. Grodsky, issued a statement on Joseph’s suit that asserted, “Mr. Joseph’s allegations concerning my client are false, baseless, and reckless. They are categorically denied, and we will use all legal means available to address these claims and to ensure that the truth is brought to light.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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