January 02, 2026
Sam Navarro/Imagn Images
Will Smith is being sued for sexual harassment by a violinist who was formerly part of the backing band for Smith's comeback hip-hop album last year. Above, Smith attends a Miami Marlins baseball game in June 2024.
A violinist has accused actor Will Smith of "grooming and priming" him for sexual exploitation and then firing him for reporting the alleged harassment ahead of the tour for Smith's comeback hip-hop album last year.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County, Brian King Joseph, who was part of Smith's backing band for the "Based on a True Story: 2025 Tour," claims the actor and his management team booted him from the group in retaliation for an incident at a Las Vegas hotel last March.
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Smith, 57, hired Joseph for a performance in December 2024, about four months before the release of "Based on a True Story," Smith's first full-length rap album in two decades. Joseph, who once competed on "America's Got Talent," was offered the chance to perform on several songs that were still being recorded for the album, and his friendship with Smith grew over the ensuing months, the lawsuit says.
"Smith and Plaintiff began spending additional time alone, with Smith even telling Plaintiff that 'You and I have such a special connection, that I don't have with anyone else,' and other similar expressions indicating his closeness to Plaintiff," Joseph claimed in court filings obtained by the New York Post.
After a March 20 rehearsal in Las Vegas, Joseph claims he returned to his hotel room around 11 p.m. to find "evidence suggesting that an unknown person had unlawfully entered the room." Only Smith and his Treyball Studios Management would have had access to Joseph's room, the suit claims.
Inside the room, Joseph found a handwritten note that said, "Brian, I'll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us (drawn heart), Stone F,'" the lawsuit says.
Joseph also allegedly found a beer bottle, an earring, a red backpack, wipes, HIV medication with another person's name and an unknown person's hospital discharge paperwork. The lawsuit did not say whether Smith or anyone on his team was known to use the nickname "Stone F."
Joseph reported the incident to hotel security, believing an "unknown individual" would return to engage in sexual acts with him, the lawsuit claims. He requested a room change and notified Smith's representatives about what had happened.
Days later, Joseph claims Smith and his team blamed him for the incident and fired him. One of Smith's representatives accused Joseph of making up the story, the suit says.
"I don't know, you tell me, because everyone is telling me that what happened to you is a lie, nothing happened, and you made the whole thing up," Smith's representative told Joseph, the lawsuit claims. "So, tell me, why did you lie and make this up?'"
The lawsuit alleges Smith had spent months "deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation," but fired the musician when it appeared the interest was not mutual. Another violinist was hired to replace Joseph for the international leg of the tour.
Smith's attorney, Allen B. Grodsky, denied the allegations in a statement provided to NBC News.
"Mr. Joseph's allegations concerning my client are false, baseless, and reckless," Grodsky said. "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 broke out as a rapper in the late 1980s as half of the West Philly duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, which paved the way for Smith's beloved sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." As a burgeoning Hollywood megastar, Smith's music career peaked with 1997's "Big Willie Style," a multi-platinum album that featured the hits "Gettin Jiggy Wit It," "Miami," "Just the Two of Us" and "Men In Black."
Smith's acting career has slowed down since he infamously slapped comedian Chris Rock for telling a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, at the Oscars in 2022. Smith only has appeared in two films, "Emancipation" and "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," since the Oscars scandal. The following year, Pinkett Smith revealed that the couple has an open marriage.
In December, a longtime friend and former associate of Will Smith filed a $3 million lawsuit against Jada Pinkett Smith, alleging she made violent threats against him in 2021 in an attempt to get him to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The former associate, identified in that lawsuit as Bilaal Salaam, also alleged a representative of the Smith family pressured him into helping manage the couple's public relations fallout after the incident at the Oscars.
Joseph's lawsuit against Smith and his management company is seeking damages for severe emotional distress, economic loss and reputational harm after he was fired.
