Will Smith's Attorney Calls Violinist Brian King Joseph's Sexual Harassment Claims 'Baseless and Reckless'
- - Will Smith's Attorney Calls Violinist Brian King Joseph's Sexual Harassment Claims 'Baseless and Reckless'
Tommy McArdleJanuary 3, 2026 at 1:49 AM
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Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Will Smith on Feb. 2, 2025 -
An attorney for Will Smith responded to allegations made against Smith and his company by a musician who performed with the actor in 2025
Professional violinist Brian King Joseph alleged he was wrongfully terminated after reporting sexual harassment while he toured with Smith on his 2025 Based on a True Story tour
Joseph filed a complaint against Smith and his company on Tuesday, Dec. 30
Will Smith's attorney is refuting the allegations made against the actor and his company by a violinist who performed with Smith last year.
"Mr. Joseph’s allegations concerning my client are false, baseless, and reckless," Allen B. Grodsky, an attorney for Smith, told PEOPLE in a statement on Thursday, Jan. 1, after professional violinist Brian King Joseph filed a complaint at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, on Tuesday, Dec. 30 against the Bad Boys star, 57, and Treyball Studios Management, Inc., alleging sexual harassment, wrongful termination and retaliation.
"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," Grodsky added in his statement.
Joseph's Dec. 30 complaint claims that Smith “was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation” after inviting Joseph to join his global tour, Based on a True Story: 2025, in November 2024.
It details an alleged “traumatic series of events” in March 2025, amid Smith’s tour, in which Joseph claims that he discovered that someone had entered his Las Vegas hotel room with no signs of forced entry. Evidence “of a sexual threat of violence” allegedly included a handwritten note reading, “Brian, I’ll be back...just us,” with a drawn heart and signed, “Stone F,” as well as “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” Joseph.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty
Brian King Joseph on Oct. 8, 2025
Following Joseph reporting the incident to hotel staff, a local non-emergency police line and Smith’s management team, the complaint alleges, a member of the tour management team later “shamed” Joseph and told him he was being terminated. Another violinist allegedly was hired to assume the same position on the tour, per the complaint.
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,” reads the complaint.
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Joseph is a Washington, D.C. native who competed on America’s Got Talent season 13 in 2018. He placed as a top-three finalist on the reality competition series. In December 2024, the musician posted a video of him playing violin onstage to Instagram, indicating in his caption that it was the first night of his touring with Smith.
The violinist shared a video to Instagram on Dec. 25 in which he appeared to allude to his forthcoming legal complaint against Smith.
"I can't get too into the details of exactly what that was because it's already a legal issue right now, but the reason why I'm speaking out about this is because getting fired or getting blamed or shamed or threatened or anything like that simply for reporting sexual misconduct or safety threats at work is not okay," he said in the video, in part.
"I know that there's a lot of other people out there who have been afraid to speak out, and I understand, and if that's you, I see you."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
