Will Smith has been sued for sexual harassment and wrongful termination by violinist Brian King Joseph, who played on the movie star’s Based on a True Story: 2025 tour.
Joseph, 32, rose to prominence as a top-three finalist on America’s Got Talent in 2018, and was hired for Smith’s concerts in 2024 after playing for him at his home, according to his court documents, which were reviewed by the Daily Mail.
Joseph claimed that during a tour stop in Las Vegas last March, he came back to his hotel room at 11pm and found that it had been ‘unlawfully entered’ by an ‘unknown person’ who left a handwritten note that read: ‘Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30 juts us,’ with a heart and the sign-off: ‘Stone F.’
The plaintiff alleged the note was accompanied by ‘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 a person unbeknownst to’ him.
According to Joseph, he was scared someone would ‘return to his room to engage in sexual acts’ with him, so he reported the incident to hotel security, a non-emergency police line and Smith’s management team.
However he alleges he was then ‘shamed’ by tour management, fired from the concerts and replaced, leading to ‘severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages’ as well as ‘PTSD and other mental illness.’
He added in his lawsuit that the ‘facts suggest’ Smith was ‘deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Smith’s representatives for comment.
Will Smith (pictured 2022) has been sued for sexual harassment and wrongful termination by violinist Brian King Joseph, who played on the movie star’s Based on a True Story: 2025 tour
Joseph, 32, rose to prominence as a top-three finalist on America’s Got Talent in 2018, and was hired for Smith’s concerts in 2024; pictured in October 2025
Joseph said that in November 2024, he was invited to Smith’s home to play for him, and that during this meeting he was enlisted to play at Smith’s concert that December in San Diego, as well as on the subsequent Based on a True Story: 2025 tour.
Over the course of their working relationship – which included Joseph performing on Smith’s latest album Based on a True Story – the two men allegedly became close and spent ‘additional alone time’ with one another.
Smith is said to have told Joseph at one stage: ‘You and I have such a special connection, that i don’t share with anyone else.’
However according to Joseph’s version of events, matters took a turn on March 20, when the first leg of the tour was in progress in Las Vegas.
The band and crew had hotel accommodations booked for them and received their room numbers and confirmation codes on a spreadsheet, such that nobody but ‘crew and hotel staff would have had access to Plaintiff’s hotel room,’ the suit insists.
Joseph alleges that he came back to his hotel room around 11pm on March 20, 2025 and discovered it had been ‘unlawfully entered’ by an ‘unknown person’ – though hotel security did not detect any signs of ‘forced entry.’
When Joseph entered the room, he says, he was confronted with the sight of a note that read: ‘Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us (drawn heart), Stone F.’
According to the lawsuit: ‘Among the remaining belongings were 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 a person unbeknownst to Plaintiff.’
Smith is pictured this past July playing a date of his Based on a True Story: 2025 tour at the Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany
Joseph, pictured October 2025 at the Media Access Awards, said his firing from Smith’s tour led to ‘severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages’
Joseph’s court documents say he at that point ‘feared that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts with Plaintiff.’
He instantly told hotel security and Smith’s representatives and took photos of what he had seen, as well as requesting a room change and reporting the alleged incident to a non-emergency police line, he claimed.
Joseph added further that he ‘made clear that his only concern was safety and that he did not wish to receive any special treatment or compensation.’
Days later, according to his lawsuit, a member of tour management ‘shamed’ him, to the point of ‘blaming Plaintiff for the incident that transpired on March 20, 2025.’
Per his court documents, that same member of tour management said to Joseph that that ‘everyone is telling me that what happened to you is a lie, nothing happened, and you made the whole thing up. So, tell me, why did you lie and make this up?’
Joseph insists he was fired in retaliation for reporting the alleged hotel incident – the culmination of an imbroglio that, according to the plaintiff, caused him ‘severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages.’
Per his court documents, the ‘stress’ of getting fired precipitated a health decline that led to ‘major physiological damage,’ on top of which he ‘suffered from PTSD and other mental illness as a result of the termination.’
Joseph filed suit against Smith this Tuesday at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, and is demanding a jury trial.
