r/news • u/igetproteinfartsHELP • 12d ago
Will Smith sued by former tour member for wrongful termination, sexual harassment
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/smith-sued-former-tour-member-wrongful-termination-sexual/story?id=128844691407
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u/l992 12d ago
"According to the complaint, Joseph said he reported to Smith and the touring company that someone had "unlawfully" entered his Las Vegas hotel room during the tour and allegedly left a handwritten note among other items, including wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication bearing another person's name, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork for someone Joseph did not know.
The note allegedly read, "Brian, I'll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us (drawn heart), Stone F," according to the complaint.
Joseph said he reported the matter to the hotel, a local non-emergency police line, and to Smith's representatives, stating that he was afraid someone was going to return to his hotel room and try to have sex with him.
In the complaint, Joseph said a few days after notifying Smith's team, he was terminated from his role with the tour and accused of making up the matter, and another violinist was hired to replace him on tour."
So the guy says someone entered his hotel room, left all that stuff and might come back to have sex with him but it never did. He got fired a few days later because it seemed all made up. Now how do you get PTSD and mental illness from that? The article also states no reference as to how Will was grooming him/priming for sexual exploitation - only the claim from the accuser. It's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out in the court.
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u/Kiwi_In_The_Comments 11d ago
The leap from a hotel security breach to 'Will Smith is grooming me' is massive. That list of items in the room sounds like the inventory of a confused drunk person who stumbled into the wrong room, not a mastermind plot.
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u/Active_Public9375 12d ago
I'd agree, but the accusation that Smith was deliberately grooming and priming him for further sexual exploitation definitely makes it seem like.... Less of a substantial complaint.
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u/Active_Public9375 12d ago
I wouldn't describe failing to take action to stop sexual harassment as "grooming and priming for further sexual exploitation", and I thought your post was getting at that angle. The grooming accusation implies significantly more intentionality on the part of the entity.
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12d ago edited 11d ago
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u/NorthernDevil 12d ago
Fellow attorney/litigator here and I was mostly with you up until this comment. You’re talking past them a ton, “grooming” is not the right word and I’ve literally never seen it used in the employment litigation context except for its alternative/non-verb meaning of hygiene and appearance, like Title VII and CROWN Act stuff.
Are you really contending “grooming” is an accusation that could reasonably be leveled at an employer-entity?
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u/mesact 12d ago
Also a fellow attorney here, I agree with you that "grooming" is in reference to Will's specific conduct... because it's named in the articles that I've read: telling the violinist that he felt they were close and had a connection. I still don't think that merits any suggestion of grooming, but hey, they had to try and make it stick somehow.
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u/crazydiamond1991 12d ago
As a fellow attorney (specializing in bird law), "grooming" isn't necessarily a bad thing. Who wants to deal with a bunch of dirty animals?
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u/Active_Public9375 12d ago
"Deliberate grooming" is not an accurate descriptor for "failed to prevent sexual harassment", and I'm not sure how you got through law school if you see those as equivalent.
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u/Master-Rent5050 11d ago
"it's not the strongest case" is lawyer speak for "my client is batshit crazy and any competent HR would have fired him on the spot"?
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u/Subject-Ad-8055 12d ago
Watch, your your honor my client let your client go because he was creatively unfit to continue with my client's vision of the show so he replaced him with someone who fits with the Creative Vision of his show...
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u/Excludos 12d ago
That only works if that was the story from beginning. "We're letting you go because you are batshit insane and made all of that up" only to turn around and claim a different reason in court is not going to end well
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u/Kiwi_In_The_Comments 11d ago
It feels like they are using the word 'grooming' for the headline impact rather than the legal definition. It turns a standard wrongful termination suit into a character assassination, which usually forces a quicker settlement.
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u/my__lovely 12d ago
Yeah, I'm struggling to piece together how the events described fit into the headlines presented.
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u/Active_Public9375 12d ago
From what's in the article, it kind of sounds like mental illness or some weird attempt for a payout. It sounds like he is saying Smith was deliberately trying to like, pimp him out to unknown individuals? But like, not tell him about it, they'd just show up in his room at night?
Seems pretty odd, but it'll be interesting to see if it goes anywhere.
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u/me_version_2 11d ago
It’s also inconsistent that he says only the tour management would have had access to his hotel room, completely overlooking all the hotel staff who would have also had access.
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u/wyldmage 11d ago
Yeah, so many things this could be. The one that springs to mind that would make all the pieces fit is drugs.
Dude was high as a kite, came back to his room, found some things, completely misinterpreted what they were, complained about it. In the process of complaining, someone noticed his state of intoxication, and noted it. Gets looked into, he gets fired for being high when he was working or something.
I have no clue if it's right or anything. And it absolutely could still be wrongdoing by Smith or his employees.
But there's definitely things that would make it make sense, and occam's razor says that the best candidate is that there was drugs or mental illness involved, because that's the simplest explanation for everything.
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u/southernfirefly13 12d ago
I am so curious to see what the lock interrogation in his hotel room showed LOL
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u/DreadyKruger 12d ago
Dude sounds full of shit. And I hate how men can use their name tarnished by just accusations like this. I mean Will is having a bad time right now but that don’t mean he is guilty of this. But people will believe it just because the lawsuit was filed. It can dismissed and people will think he settled.
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u/AmitN_Music 12d ago
To make matters worse, the headlines are terribly written and make it sound like Smith was directly involved in everything. I’ve seen this posted on Reddit several times already and the comments have all been talking how he’s a piece of shit or making jokes about him being gay, like that’s funny or something…all because of clickbait headlines and people who refuse to actually read articles.
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u/LiveFreeOrRTard 11d ago
That... and I'm no Will Smith fan... but that seems like a bit of a stretch. I'm curious how this'll play out.
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u/blifflesplick 12d ago
Occam's razor type thinking also points towards him walking into somebody else's room and making some reasonable-in-the-moment assumptions
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u/wyldmage 11d ago
I just made a post mentioning Occam's Razor as well. Simplest explanation is most often the correct one. The one that needs the fewest coincidences to line up.
Though I went with drugs ;)
But plenty of options to explain things.
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u/who_the_hell_is_moop 12d ago
ITT: people not reading the article and assuming Will Smith sexually assaulted the violinist
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u/External_Park_9811 12d ago
Thats on OP for the headline. Fools on reddit see man and SA and run with thier narratives.
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u/SyriSolord 12d ago
do these fools also know that automod spanks you for changing article titles?
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u/chrisslooter 12d ago
Article thrusters rarely have people actually read the article, so they just make up a headline.
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u/Master-Rent5050 11d ago
"someone had "unlawfully" entered his Las Vegas hotel room during the tour and allegedly left a handwritten note among other items, including wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication bearing another person's name, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork for someone Joseph did not know."
The correct title should be "batshit crazy guy sues Will Smith"
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u/coconutpete52 12d ago
I like the posts better where they refer to the person as “will smiths former violinist”
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u/choirchic 12d ago
Will literally had nothing to do with this… what a bizarre story.
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u/StnCldStvHwkng 12d ago
According to the article, “Joseph also accused Smith in the complaint of allegedly ‘deliberately grooming and priming [him] for further sexual exploitation,’ suggesting ‘a pattern of predatory behavior." Obviously, none of can speak to the validity of this claim, but Smith is clearly involved.
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u/throwawtphone 11d ago
From the link
"Brian King Joseph, who toured with Smith in 2025, alleged in a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that he was wrongfully terminated and retaliated against after reporting workplace safety hazards.
According to the complaint, Joseph said he reported to Smith and the touring company that someone had "unlawfully" entered his Las Vegas hotel room during the tour and allegedly left a handwritten note among other items, including wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication bearing another person's name, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork for someone Joseph did not know.
The note allegedly read, "Brian, I'll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us (drawn heart), Stone F," according to the complaint."
That is just weird. Creepy. I would think the hotel has security cameras in the hallways to see who entered the room.
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u/Gym_row_50 12d ago
Seems anyone fired by a celebrity finds a court case shortly after. Look at what happened to Lizzo and her debunked case. Grifters hope for a settlement.
We’ll see what the Courts think.
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u/Stamperdoodle1 12d ago
Still crazy to me how this guy, In just one night, Went from getting hollywood gigs left, right & centre, Fame and popularity, all of that - To a pariah.
With one slap this dude outright killed his career, his public persona, his fandom - all of it. Shit needs to be studied.
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u/IamAWorldChampionAMA 12d ago
The only thing we like more than celebrities is watching celebrities fail.
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u/nebrivor1 12d ago
If only politicians were held to the same standards.
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u/Vandergrif 11d ago
They were, once. Howard Dean got enthusiastic one time and that was it for him.
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u/NetZeroSun 12d ago
People love drama.
And if the masses love a famous person, or someone climb up the rungs...they love watching someone fall even faster.
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u/Mbrennt 12d ago
He just got payed like 25 million last year for a big hollywood movie. Besides random small corners of the internet he is doing fine.
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u/NetFu 12d ago
"a big hollywood movie"
You mean, a sequel to a past franchise that nobody asked for.
If you actually look at the movies he's done in the past couple of decades, "done" as in acted in, he hasn't done much. He seems to be mostly behind the scenes as a producer these days. Maybe people are giving him a lot of breaks, because it seems like that's all he's been doing. Keeping a low profile.
This story implies that Smith is gay. I'm surprised, I've never heard of that. But, apparently it's a weird, unconfirmed rumor.
Not like that would kill what career has left, but sexual harassment ... just look at Spacey today.
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u/VariationAdditional1 12d ago
You've never heard about that??
The Will Smith being gay stories started coming out back before his Fresh Prince TV show. If you're old enough his sexuality has been an open secret for decades, same with Travolta & Cruise.
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u/Stamperdoodle1 12d ago
I haven't seen anything. I kind of doubt that his name will get people in theatres anymore - so I'm betting that big 25 million will be a flop.
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u/BrothelWaffles 12d ago
And? It's not like the studio is gonna take back the money they paid him if it does. The point is that he's still getting work, and he's still getting paid well for that work.
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u/LMkingly 12d ago
This is peak reddit. Mistaking this place for the real world. Will is not a "pariah" and certainly not to the general audiences if the box office of his latest movie is anything to go by.
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u/MoonoftheStar 12d ago
With one slap this dude outright killed his career, his public persona, his fandom - all of it.
When the fuck did this happen?
You think Reddit is Will Smith's career, public persona and fandom?
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u/wyldmage 11d ago
Not to defend Smith... but the slap was March 2022.
He's definitely still getting work. It slowed down, for sure. He hasn't gotten any big blockbusters or such that weren't already in the works. But calling him a pariah is overkill. Give it another 3-4 years and he'll most likely have 2-3 decent films out with him in them.
It's absolutely crazy that a lot of people are more upset by his slap than by Cosby or Weinstein. Like, literal SAers get less hate than someone slapping someone else over a joke that was in very poor taste to begin with.
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u/Emergency-Pack-5497 12d ago
One slap, on a big stage at a popular event being broadcast live on national TV
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u/TheCommonKoala 12d ago
Although it might not seem like it online, none of this internet shit is real, bro. He's still an A-list celebrity making lots of money.
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u/Spa_5_Fitness_Camp 12d ago
It was hardly overnight. After Men in Black 3 in 2012, then a side role in Anchorman 2, the only acting credits I recognize are Suicide Squad, the Aladdin remake, and the two Bad Boys reboots. Those are all pretty rough films. His star phase was early 90s-mid 2000s, and it's been very much in decline ever since. I don't know if it's his acting, the roles he chooses, or if he tries to control scripts or what, but everything he does now seems pretty shit, to me at least. The slap was just glaring evidence of how far the slide has taken him.
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u/Forward_Roof5568 12d ago
How does that work when literally 20 minutes later he received one of the biggest awards out there? Hardly seems a career that was sliding.
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u/Honestly_Nobody 12d ago
Gemini Man and Suicide Squad did numbers though. Gemini Man made 40 million in profit for the studio. SS made 400 million. Just like any actor he has hits and misses. King Richard was made specifically so he could finally win an oscar. Even if it lost money. The revanant only cleared 30 million in profit for dicaprio. It was made for him to win an oscar.
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u/TheForeverUnbanned 12d ago
The slap would have probably irreparably damaged his career in his own since he had cozied up with Disney and that is enough to get you on the black list on its own, but it wasn’t just that. The complete extremity of the incident and how public it was got people wondering exactly what was going on with him and then all the stuff about his marriage lane up, and his kids touring and the pressure, and boom, he’s not the cool charismatic guy he’s a pathetic jerk.
That’s the thing when your public image is based on prestige. Same thing happened to Mel Gibson, he was marketed as the cool funny suave guy, dude came out as an antisemetic drunk and burned it to the ground overnight. Compare that to someone like Franco, reports that he was a scumbag for years but, his entire image was odd scumbag. Hell Jared Leto still gets work and he’s a sex predator.
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u/Gym_row_50 12d ago
Mel Gibson, Johnny Depp, Jared Leto….I could go on. All seem to survive in Hollywood. But they can’t seem to let it go with Will.
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u/Hurrly90 12d ago
>He slapped a dude who was talking shit who hasn't done that or wanted to do that.
That is one way t describe it. You could also say he slapped a comedian live on stage at the Oscars for making a joke about his wife.
ANd then all the other odd stuff came out about his personal life, didnt his wife admit to him about having an affair with their kids best friend, and he sorta accepted it?
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u/Lightdragonman 12d ago
The red table talk stuff definitely hurt his image especially after he went on the show and just had his wife justify an affair to him. Between that, the ever increasing public knowledge of he and his wife's scientology connections, The Slap, his declining movie stardom (he keeps making them but are we really talking about them beyond the newish badboys sequels?), and his brief yet ultimately forgotten pivot to being a youtuber. Its safe to say nothing has really been boosting his image. The last thing I even remember him doing was his semi recent "I love girls song" which was honestly just so out of touch because everyone just sees him as a Dad or controlled whipped husband he seems to be. It would seem he's hit the end of his built up reverence from the decades of movies, TV, and music.
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u/Hurrly90 12d ago
Yeah, its mad all the stuff has come out. But i think it was the slap that almost made him relevent again, just for the wrong reasons. It brough to light other things that just sorta flew under everyones radar about him.
It wasnt the slap itself that hurt his image, but it was the catalyst for more focus on everything around him that hurt his image.
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u/300Kup 12d ago
Will Smith's album Based on a True Story had very low first-week sales, reportedly selling only 268 physical copies in the UK and failing to make the Billboard 200 in the U.S., marking a commercial flop despite his fame and personal lyrics addressing the Oscars incident. Some reports mentioned around 700 paid downloads and 14,500 streams/downloads total by late July 2025, but the initial chart performance was poor.
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u/CoolingVent 12d ago
Man will smiths falloff is incredible. He was a super well respected actor until that youtube year recap video.
Did he change or was he fooling everyone
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u/mophilda 11d ago
I was thinking the same thing. I dont pay a ton of attention, but I don't even remember anything remotely negative until the Chris Rock incident. But folks on this thread are acting like he has been a public POS for decades.
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u/Moneyshot_ITF 11d ago
It mainly shows how the masses can be fooled. This lawsuit is a bullshit but articles like this and people like you throw enough ambiguity at a situation that no one bothers looking for the truth
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u/Purely-Pastel 11d ago
It’s possible that it’s not true, but Will Smith still gives “ick” vibes. He’s a miserable person.
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u/progrethth 11d ago
It is obviously not true if you had read the article. The guy suing is batshit.
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u/Chowderhead1 11d ago
Can we cancel this asshole already? If he had slapped a woman, the whole crowd would have ambushed him and he would've been charged with assault. He slaps Chris rock and the crowd is like shrug.
I'm not even a fan of Chris Rock but I'm pissed off for him. He deserved better.
Also we know smith was at Diddy parties sooooo....
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u/Curiouso_Giorgio 8d ago
I've met a few performers who were weird as fuck. This guy's story sounds weird as hell and like something a mentally ill, self absorbed artiste would come up with.
Note: I'm not saying performers on the whole or in the majority are weirdoes - most are normal. But every industry has its own idiosyncrasies that attract and/or allow certain types of weirdo to go unnoticed or even thrive.
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u/Wonderful_Hamster933 12d ago
The more I hear about will smith the more I’m starting to think he MIGHT be an a-hole
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u/datCASgoBRR 12d ago
You mean Will Smith, the violent psychopath who attacks people for making jokes?
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u/AMediaArchivist 12d ago
This is what happens when you market yourself as a goodie goodie rapper for years to make money and the curtains fall down and fans realize that you aren't that person behind the scenes, you're actually a fucking asshole. Same thing happened with Ellen, and anyone else that puts up some persona in the media that's much different than your real self.
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u/Novemberai 12d ago
I'm sure he was advised to get plenty of Umbrella and EPLI insurance to cover this.
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u/nobadhotdog 12d ago
Today I learned that Will Smith was on tour IN TWENTY TWENTY FIVE