Will Smith sued over allegations he retaliated against violinist who reported sexual harassment
A violinist has accused Will Smith of retaliation after he said he was fired for reporting sexual harassment while on tour with the actor and rapper, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this week.
The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is related to what the complaint describes as a “hotel break-in” in Las Vegas last March and which Brian King Joseph immediately reported to hotel security, police and the artist’s representatives.
A few days later, according to the complaint, a representative for Smith accused Joseph of lying and fired him.
A management company associated with Smith, 57, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The complaint does not specify damages.
Representatives for Smith declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit, Joseph began performing with Smith in December 2024 and joined the artist’s tour for his latest album, “Based on a True Story,” last year. They began spending time alone together, the complaint states, and Smith allegedly told Joseph they had a “special bond” that the artist didn’t have with anyone else.
On or about March 20, while in Las Vegas for a performance, Joseph said he returned to his hotel room around 11 p.m. and discovered that someone appeared to have entered illegally while he was gone, the complaint states. According to hotel security, there were no signs of forced entry and only those on Smith’s management team had access to the room while he was away, the complaint states.
Among the items Joseph said he found were wipes, a beer bottle, an earring, a red backpack, HIV medication with another person’s name on it, hospital discharge paperwork for someone Joseph didn’t know, and a note saying, “Brian, I’ll be back at the latest.” [sic] 5:30 p.m., just us (drawn heart), Stone F,” the complaint states.
“Plaintiff feared that a stranger would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts with Complainant,” the complaint states.
After Joseph reported the apparent intrusion to hotel security, Smith’s representatives and the police, according to the complaint, a Smith representative blamed him for the incident and said he was fired.
The lawsuit quotes the rep as saying, in part: “Everyone tells me what happened to you was a lie, that nothing happened and you made it all up. So tell me, why did you lie and make this up?”
No effort was made to check on Joseph’s safety concerns, the complaint claims, and after he was fired, another violinist was hired, even though the complaint says Joseph was told the tour was “going in a different direction.”
