A violinist is suing Will Smith after accusing the actor of firing him for reporting sexual assault while on his 2025 tour.
Brian King Joseph is suing Smith and his company, Treyball Studios Management for wrongfully terminating him after an incident in Las Vegas in March last year while on the rapper’s “Based on a True Story 2025 Tour,” USA TODAY reported.
According to Joseph’s civil complaint filed on Dec. 31 in a Los Angeles court, the musician claims that he returned to his hotel room, booked by Smith’s company, to find someone had entered his room and left a sexual message, wipes, a beer bottle, HIV medication with another person’s name on it and hospital discharge paperwork belonging to someone else.
The note read: “Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us [drawn heart],” and was signed “Stone F,” USA TODAY said.
Joseph feared that “an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts,” the complaint states according to NBC News.
He then reported the incident to hotel security, Smith’s representatives and police, the complaint reads. However, a representative for Smith then blamed him for the incident and said he was being terminated.
Joseph’s complaint called the evidence a “sexual threat of violence” and states that Smith “was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation,” while on the global tour, PEOPLE wrote.
Additionally, the complaint states that the incident caused Joseph “severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages,” including “PTSD and other mental illness as a result of the termination.”
Smith’s attorney Allen B. Grodsky told PEOPLE in a statement on Jan. 1 that “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.”
