{"id":9317,"date":"2026-01-03T03:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/will-smith-faces-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-from-ex-tour-violinist\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T16:35:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T16:35:40","slug":"will-smith-faces-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-from-ex-tour-violinist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/will-smith-faces-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-from-ex-tour-violinist\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Smith Faces Sexual Harassment Lawsuit from Ex-Tour Violinist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tAn electric\u00a0violinist who was part of Will Smith\u2019s\u00a0Based on a True Story\u00a0<\/em>tour last year has brought a lawsuit accusing the star of sexual harassment and retaliation.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrian King Joseph, a violinist who came in third place on season 13 of America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em> in 2018, claims in a Tuesday (Dec. 30) civil complaint that he was fired from Smith\u2019s international trek after reporting that someone had broken into his hotel room and left sexually suggestive materials.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cDefendant\u2019s actions caused plaintiff severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm and other damages,\u201d reads the lawsuit. \u201cPlaintiff was also harmed as a result of the stress of losing his job his health deteriorated causing major physiological damage. Plaintiff suffered from PTSD and other mental illness as a result of the termination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJoseph met Smith in November 2024 and was later invited to join the actor and rapper on tour supporting his comeback album, Based on a True Story<\/em>. The violinist says he grew close to Smith and spent time alone with the star, who allegedly told him, \u201cYou and I have such a special connection that I don\u2019t have with anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThings supposedly got dicey this past March, when Smith\u2019s tour crew was in Las Vegas for a show at the House of Blues before their official summer kickoff. Joseph claims he returned to his hotel room one night to find various odd items, including a bottle of HIV medication, an earring and a note reading, \u201cBrian, I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the complaint, Joseph feared that he was about to be the victim of sexual assault. While Joseph does not overtly accuse Smith of orchestrating this alleged break-in, he connects the incident to their prior relationship.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u00a0\u201cThe facts strongly suggest that defendant Willard Carroll Smith II was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation,\u201d reads the lawsuit. \u201cThe sequence of events, Smith\u2019s prior statements to plaintiff, and the circumstances of the hotel intrusion all point to a pattern of predatory behavior rather than an isolated incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe violinist claims he reported this incident to Smith\u2019s management, as well as hotel security and local police. Joseph was fired four days later, with a member of Smith\u2019s management team allegedly blaming him for fabricating the hotel break-in story.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Joseph is suing for sexual harassment and retaliation. He\u2019s seeking an unspecified amount of financial damages from both Smith and his company, Treyball Studios Management.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn attorney for Smith, Allen Grodsky<\/strong>, told People<\/a> <\/em>on Thursday (Jan. 1) that Joseph\u2019s allegations are \u201cfalse, baseless and reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey 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,\u201d added Grodsky, as reported by People<\/em>.<\/p>\n


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An electric\u00a0violinist who was part of Will Smith\u2019s\u00a0Based on a True Story\u00a0tour last year has brought a lawsuit accusing the star of sexual harassment and retaliation. Brian King […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7205,458,1532,303,301,540,7206],"class_list":["post-9317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-extour","tag-faces","tag-harassment","tag-lawsuit","tag-sexual","tag-smith","tag-violinist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9399,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions\/9399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}