A former violinist and crew member for actor and rapper Will Smith has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, accusing the star and his touring firm of wrongful termination, retaliation, and sexual harassment.
The plaintiff, Brian King Joseph, who toured with Smith throughout the 2025 “Primarily based on a True Story” album tour, claims he was fired after elevating considerations about office security and an alleged invasion of his resort room. Joseph acknowledged that throughout the Las Vegas cease of the tour, somebody unlawfully entered his resort room, leaving a handwritten notice together with private gadgets together with wipes, a beer bottle, a crimson backpack, a bottle of HIV remedy belonging to another person, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork for an unknown particular person.
In keeping with the criticism, the notice learn: “Brian, I’ll be again no later [sic] 5:30, simply us (drawn coronary heart), Stone F.” Joseph reported the incident to the resort, a neighborhood non-emergency police line, and Smith’s representatives, expressing worry that somebody would possibly return and try sexual assault.
Joseph alleges that a couple of days after notifying Smith’s workforce, he was accused of fabricating the incident and subsequently terminated from the tour, with one other violinist employed as his alternative. The criticism additionally claims that Smith engaged in conduct described as “intentionally grooming and priming [him] for additional sexual exploitation,” suggesting a sample of predatory conduct. Joseph says the expertise prompted him PTSD and different psychological well being points and is searching for compensatory damages, legal professional’s charges, and different reduction as decided by a jury.
Representing Smith, legal professional Allen B. Grodsky strongly denied the allegations, calling them “false, baseless, and reckless” in an announcement to ABC Information. Grodsky emphasised that Smith intends to make use of all authorized means to defend in opposition to the claims.
The lawsuit follows Smith’s world tour in assist of his album “Primarily based on a True Story,” which was launched in March 2025, marking his first full-length album in twenty years. The Las Vegas present occurred throughout the identical month, coinciding with the timeframe of the alleged resort incident.
The case is now pending in Los Angeles, and additional developments are anticipated as authorized proceedings transfer ahead.
