Will Smith is starting 2026 on a sour note after a musician who toured with him in 2024 filed a lawsuit for sexual harassment against him.
Violinist Brian King Joseph filed the lawsuit against Smith and his company on 30 December.
According to People, Joseph, who rose to fame while competing on America’s Got Talent, alleges that Smith ‘was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation’.
This is after Smith invited Joseph to join his Based on a True Story: 2025 tour in November 2024.
Daily Mail reports that Joseph claimed that during a tour stop in Las Vegas in March, he returned to his hotel room to find that it had been ‘unlawfully entered’ by an ‘unknown person’ who left a handwritten note that read: ‘Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30 juts us,’ with a heart and the sign-off: ‘Stone F.’
Joseph alleged the note was accompanied by ‘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 him’, reports Daily Mail.
He was allegedly scared someone would ‘return to his room to engage in sexual acts’ with him, so he reported the incident to hotel security, a non-emergency police line, and Smith’s management team.
Joseph alleges that he was then ‘shamed’ by tour management, fired, and replaced.
This led to ‘severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages’ as well as ‘PTSD and other mental illness.’
“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,” Smith’s attorney Allen B. Grodsky told People in a statement.