Will Smith is confronting a fresh wave of legal turmoil after a musician from his 2025 tour filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, grooming, and wrongful termination. Brian King Joseph, a professional electric violinist and former America’s Got Talent finalist, lodged the complaint on December 30 in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Oscar-winning actor and his production company, Treyball Studios Management, Inc.
Will Smith sued for sexual harassment, accused of ‘deliberately grooming’ tour violinist https://t.co/Qc8Le1NuZY pic.twitter.com/99iRHbFSoa
— New York Post (@nypost) January 2, 2026
The allegations paint a disturbing picture of events surrounding Smith’s global “Based on a True Story: 2025” tour. Joseph claims the dynamic shifted dramatically after he was invited to the 57-year-old star’s home in November 2024 to perform.
According to the lawsuit, Smith told him, “You and I have such a special connection, that I don’t share with anyone else,” a comment Joseph’s legal team argues was part of a broader pattern where Smith was “deliberately grooming and priming [Joseph] for further sexual exploitation.”
While the lawsuit alleges Smith’s behavior created an uncomfortable environment, it does not explicitly confirm a sexual relationship between the two men, leaving the true nature of their dynamic a subject of intense legal dispute.
The central incident reportedly occurred during a tour stop in Las Vegas in March 2025. Joseph claims he returned to his hotel room at 11 p.m. to find it had been “unlawfully entered.”
Inside, he discovered a bizarre assortment of items left behind: wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, an earring, hospital discharge paperwork belonging to an unknown person, and a bottle of HIV medication prescribed to someone else.
Most chilling was a handwritten note that read: “Brian, I’ll be back no later (sic) 5:30 just us,” signed with a heart and the name “Stone F.”
The complaint does not clarify who “Stone F.” is, nor does it allege that the HIV medication belonged to Smith himself. However, the presence of such personal medical items in an intruded space forms the core of Joseph’s claim that he was being targeted for unwanted sexual advances.
Violinist sues Will Smith and management company, claiming wrongful termination and sexual harassment #NRGRadioUG #NRGLostKoolUG pic.twitter.com/Mx4MAiGIjO
— NRG Radio UG (@nrgradioug) January 3, 2026
Terrified that the intruder would return to “engage in sexual acts,” Joseph reported the break-in to hotel security, police, and Smith’s management team. However, rather than receiving support, Joseph alleges he was gaslighted.
The complaint states he was “shamed” by management, accused of fabricating the story, and abruptly fired from the tour under the pretense that the production was “moving in a different direction”—only for another violinist to be hired shortly after.
Joseph, who gained national fame as a top-three finalist on Season 13 of America’s Got Talent, alleges the ordeal caused “severe emotional distress,” PTSD, and significant economic loss. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Smith’s legal team has moved quickly to shut down the accusations. Attorney Allen B. Grodsky released a statement categorically denying the claims, calling them “false, baseless, and reckless.” Grodsky vowed to “use all legal means available to address these claims and to ensure that the truth is brought to light.”
Will Smith is facing explosive new allegations. A former tour musician claims the actor ‘groomed’ him… and the lawsuit details a series of deeply disturbing events. Read more at the link below. (📸: GETTY) https://t.co/spwj9J3IV5 pic.twitter.com/NhVkDqjmKA
— OK! Magazine USA (@OKMagazine) January 2, 2026
The current lawsuit arrives against the backdrop of previous allegations the Smiths dismissed outright. In November 2023, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith laughed off explosive speculation sparked by Brother Bilal’s claim on Tasha K’s podcast that he allegedly witnessed Will having sexual relations with actor Duane Martin years earlier.
Jada addressed the allegation on The Breakfast Club, dismissing it as “ridiculous” and “nonsense.” When asked how Will reacted to the claim, Jada revealed her husband found the humor in it: “He was like, ‘Do you believe this s—?’ But we just laughed about it.” She emphasized that they had to laugh because “it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
The couple vowed to take “legal action” against Brother Bilal, with Jada characterizing his initial approach as a failed “shakedown, a money shakedown, that didn’t work.” A rep for Will categorically denied the allegation as “completely fabricated and the claim is unequivocally false.”
Sources close to the Smith family revealed the couple has “dealt with and ignored innuendo and homophobic rumors for years,” and they remained “united that this is just another person trying to use their fame for advancement.”
The latest sexual harassment lawsuit adds to a mounting public relations crisis for the Smith family. What seemed like a laughable “shakedown” attempt in 2023—when they joked it off on The Breakfast Club—now carries an eerily different undertone given the fresh grooming allegations.
It comes just weeks after a separate $3 million lawsuit was filed on December 1 by Bilaal Salaam—a man who claims to be Will Smith’s former best friend—against Jada Pinkett Smith. Salaam alleges Jada inflicted intentional emotional distress and threatened him.
Sources close to the couple have dismissed Salaam’s suit as the work of an “opportunistic person.”
The irony is stark: the couple who confidently vowed legal action against Brother Bilal for his “salacious, malicious” claims about Will’s sexuality now face serious grooming allegations from a credentialed musician with documented evidence.
The pattern of legal battles—spanning from sexuality rumors to emotional distress claims to grooming allegations—suggests the Smiths’ strategy of laughing off controversy may no longer shield them from serious consequences.
As Smith attempts a career resurgence following the release of his first album in nearly two decades, these twin legal battles threaten to overshadow his return to the spotlight. With serious allegations of grooming and retaliation now on the docket, the actor faces a challenging road ahead in the court of public opinion.
