Will Smith is being sued by a violinist from his 2025 tour, who claims the rapper and actor exhibited “predatory behaviour” and was “deliberately grooming and priming” him for “further sexual exploitation”. Brian King Joseph is also pursuing the performer and his company Treyball Studios Management for wrongful termination and retaliation in a suit filed in the superior court of California.

Joseph alleges that he was hired for the tour in support of Smith’s new album, Based on a True Story, after first appearing on stage with Smith in December 2024. The suit claims that Smith once told Joseph, “You and I have such a special connection that I don’t have with anyone else.”

In March 2025, Joseph alleges that his bag and hotel room key went missing at a Las Vegas tour date, and was returned several hours later. That night, Joseph claims he went to his hotel room to find it had been “unlawfully” accessed, with wipes and HIV medication bearing another person’s name left behind, in addition to a note that read: “Brian, I’ll be back no later 5.30, just us <3, Stone F.” Joseph said he concluded that “an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts” with him.

The suit states that members of the tour’s management were “the only individuals with access” to his room. Joseph says that he notified hotel security and representatives for Smith and reported the incident to a non-emergency police line. Joseph claims that he was later “shamed” by a member of Smith’s management team over the incident, and had his contract terminated, with the implication that he had fabricated the event.

Joseph’s suit claims that the termination led to him suffering from PTSD and economic loss.

Smith’s attorney Allen B Grodsky denied these allegations in a statement to the Daily Mail which read: “Mr Joseph’s allegations concerning my client are false, baseless and reckless.

“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.” The Guardian has contacted Smith’s representatives.

Based on a True Story was Smith’s first album in 20 years. It touched in part on his assault on Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. The album was a flop, failing to chart in any major territory and spending one week at No 79 on the UK album downloads chart (not the main album chart).

In a review of the album for Pitchfork rated 2.4/10, critic Stephen Kearse wrote: “Based on a True Story lacks the easy repose of an artist in their comfort zone, or the playfulness of one cutting loose in their sanctum. It is a campaign platform, devoid of perspective or style, uninterested in narrative or even spin, but always on message: Please take me back.”