Hollywood actor and musician Will Smith has been accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles just before the New Year by violinist Brian King Joseph, who alleges inappropriate conduct during their professional relationship.
Joseph claims Smith groomed and manipulated him after hiring him for performances and inviting him to join the Based on a True Story: 2025 tour, offering recording opportunities and expressing what the lawsuit describes as unusually intimate personal closeness.
According to the filing, the musician says the situation escalated while on tour in Las Vegas, where Smith’s team arranged his accommodation and circumstances allegedly allowed access to his hotel room, forming part of broader claims of grooming and exploitation.
Smith and his associated management company are named in the suit, which outlines a pattern of behaviour Joseph says went ‘beyond professional boundaries’.
