Brian King Joseph claims he was playing on Smith’s “Based on a True Story” tour when someone left a “sexual threat of violence” in his Las Vegas hotel room.

Will Smith sued for sexual harassment, wrongful termination by tour violinist

Brian King Joseph claims he was playing on Smith's "Based on a True Story" tour when someone left a "sexual threat of violence" in his Las Vegas hotel room.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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January 1, 2026 9:32 p.m. ET

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Will Smith in 2024. Credit:

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Brian King Joseph, a violinist and finalist of season 13 of *America's Got Talent*, is suing Will Smith, claiming he was fired for reporting an incident of sexual harassment.

In a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court on Tuesday, Joseph, whom Smith hired to perform on his *Based on a True Story: 2025 *global tour, alleges that he was not only subject to a "traumatic series of events" while working with Smith, but that he was terminated for reporting them.

Joseph is suing Smith and his Treyball Studios Management, Inc. over an alleged incident in March 2025 in which someone left him a disturbing message after gaining ungranted access to his Las Vegas hotel room during the tour.

According to the complaint, obtained and reviewed by **, the individual left evidence of a "sexual threat of violence," including "wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication with another individual's name, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork" belonging to someone else.

A note was also left behind that read, "Brian, I'll be back... just us," signed with a heart and the name Stone F.**

Brian King Joseph in 2025.

Tommaso Boddi/Getty

* *has reached out to Joseph's attorney and representatives for Smith for comment.

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The complaint also claims that before the alleged incident, Smith "was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation" after he hired him to accompany Smith on the tour supporting his fifth studio album. "You and I have such a special connection that I don't have with anyone else," Joseph claims Smith told him during one meeting. The complaint also details one alleged incident in which Smith's management lost Joseph's bag, which included his hotel room key.

Joseph claims that after he discovered that someone had entered his hotel room, he reported his findings to the hotel staff, a local non-emergency police line, and Smith's management team. One member of that team "shamed" Joseph, the complaint claims, and told him he would be terminated.

The complaint subsequently characterizes Joseph's termination days later as retaliatory and dismisses the hasty hiring of another violinist in his stead as an attempt to cover up Joseph's removal from the tour.**

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The "circumstances of the hotel intrusion all point to a pattern of predatory behavior rather than an isolated incident," the complaint reads.

Joseph also reports experiencing "severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages" following the alleged incident and the termination that he claims resulted from it, including "PTSD and other mental illness."

The musician is seeking compensation for personal and financial damages, with the complaint noting that Joseph undertook significant financial burden in order to prepare for the tour.

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