(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Will Smith has been sued by a former touring musician who accused the actor and rapper of “deliberately grooming” him before allegedly retaliating against him after he reported what the lawsuit describes as a “hotel intrusion” while on tour in Las Vegas.
The complaint, filed earlier this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by Fox News Digital, accused Smith and a management company associated with him of firing violinist Brian King Joseph days after Joseph reported the incident to hotel security, police, and Smith’s representatives.
The lawsuit does not specify damages, but it puts Smith at the center of a troubling case.
Joseph said he began performing with Smith in December 2024 and later joined the tour for Smith’s most recent album, Based on a True Story. According to the complaint, the two spent time alone together working, during which Smith allegedly told Joseph they had a “special connection” unlike any other.
The filing accuses Smith of “deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation.”
The lawsuit centers on events said to have taken place on or around March 20 in Las Vegas. Joseph alleged that when he returned to his hotel room at about 11 p.m., it appeared someone had entered while he was out.
Hotel security reportedly found no signs of forced entry and told Joseph that only members of Smith’s management team had access to the room.
Inside, Joseph claimed he found wipes, a beer bottle, an earring, a red backpack, HIV medication with another person’s name, hospital discharge paperwork belonging to someone he did not know, and a note reading: “Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us [drawn heart], Stone F.”
“Plaintiff feared that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts with Plaintiff,” the complaint stated.
After reporting the incident, Joseph alleged he was blamed and dismissed. The suit quoted a representative for Smith as saying: “Everyone is telling me that what happened to you is a lie, nothing happened, and you made the whole thing up. So, tell me, why did you lie and make this up?”
Joseph was replaced by another violinist, despite being told the tour was “moving in a different direction,” the lawsuit claimed.
Smith’s reps have not yet responded to Fox Digital’s request for comment.
