Photo Credit: Aniestla
Touring violinist Brian King Joseph is suing Will Smith and Treyball Studios Management as defendants, accusing Smith of “predatory behavior” and “deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation.”
According to the lawsuit, Smith hired Joseph in November 2024 to perform at a show in San Diego. Afterwards, Smith invited Joseph to join his 2025 tour and play on his upcoming album. Joseph says as he began working with the rapper-turned-actor, Smith said “you and I have such a special connection, that I don’t have with anyone else.”
Joseph joined Will Smith on the first leg of his comeback tour in March 2025 for a show in Las Vegas. The lawsuit claims his bag went missing for several hours before management found it and returned to him and that those individuals were the only ones with access to his room. Later that night, Joseph says he returned to find that someone had unlawfully entered his room and left behind several belongings.
They included wipes, a bottle of HIV medication with a name he didn’t recognize, and a note addressed to Brian reading, “I’ll be back no later 5:30, just us (heart emoji), Stone F.” Joseph says he interpreted this as a warning that an unknown individual would soon return to the room to “engage in sexual acts.”
Joseph says after the discover, he alerted hotel security and Smith’s representatives, while also reporting the incident to the non-emergency police line. Days later, he says he was shamed for the incident and terminated, with a member of Smith’s management team suggesting that Joseph made up the whole story.
Joseph says due to the unlawful termination, he suffered PTSD and economic loss. He’s suing for retaliation, wrongful termination, and sexual harassment, with potential damages to be determined by a jury. It’s unclear in the lawsuit if the incident was the fault of the hotel or related to Smith’s management team at all—just a seemingly very weird incident all around.
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