Will Smith has been sued by a tour violinist alleging sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation.
Brian King Joseph filed the suit in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles on Dec. 30 against Smith and Treyball Studios Management. It accuses Smith of “predatory behavior” and “deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation” ahead of his Based on a True Story: 2025 tour.
The lawsuit alleges that Smith hired Joseph in November 2024 to perform at a show in San Diego. The rapper subsequently invited Joseph to join his 2025 tour and to play on his forthcoming album. The suit claims that Smith once told Joseph, “You and I have such a special connection that I don’t have with anyone else.”
Joseph alleges a “traumatic series of events” that occurred in Las Vegas in March 2025, where Smith was performing. During on incident, Smith’s management allegedly lost Joseph’s bag, which contained his hotel room key. Joseph claims he discovered someone had entered his Las Vegas hotel room with no signs of forced entry. Evidence “of a sexual threat of violence” allegedly included a handwritten note reading, “Brian, I’ll be back… just us,” with a drawn heart and signed, “Stone F.”
The musician also found “wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication with another individual’s name, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork belonging to a person unbeknownst to” Joseph. Joseph claims he “feared that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts.”
Joseph reported the incident to hotel security and Smith’s representatives, as well as the non-emergency police line. The suit alleges that a few days later, a member of Smith’s management team “shamed” him for the incident and told him he was being terminated while suggesting that Joseph made the whole thing up. Joseph says he subsequently suffered “PTSD and other mental illness as a result of the termination.”
The “circumstances of the hotel intrusion all point to a pattern of predatory behavior rather than an isolated incident,” the complaint reads. It adds that Joseph experienced “severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages” as a result of the alleged incident and the termination.
“Mr. Joseph’s allegations concerning my client are false, baseless, and reckless,” Allen B. Grodsky, an attorney for Smith, told People in a statement. “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.”
Smith released his most recent album, Based on a True Story, in March. Smith performed in Las Vegas on March 20, 2025 at the House of Blues Las Vegas and at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles a few days later. His tour officially kicked off in June in Rabat, Morocco.
