‘America’s Got Talent’ Finalist Sues Will Smith

Will Smith is being sued by a former performer he hired to perform on his 2025 tour. America’s Got Talent alum Brian King Joseph, a violinist and finalist who appeared on Season 13 of the reality competition series, is suing the Oscar winner for workforce retaliation after he alleges he was fired for reporting an incident of sexual harassment. 

Joseph says he was subject to a “traumatic series of events” while working with Smith, but that he was terminated for reporting them, which he says occurred in March 2025 when he discovered strange belongings in his Las Vegas hotel room. 

An attorney for Smith and the company named in the suit told Entertainment Weekly they deny the claims, saying, “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.”

Joseph claims in the suit that an individual left evidence of a “sexual threat of violence,” including “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 someone else. He also says a note was also left behind that read, “Brian, I’ll be back… just us,” signed with a heart and the name Stone F.

He says before the hotel incident, there were unwarranted advances from Smith, in which Joseph alleges he “was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation” after he hired him to accompany Smith on the tour supporting his fifth studio album. “You and I have such a special connection that I don’t have with anyone else,” Joseph claims Smith told him during one meeting. 

Joseph claims that after he discovered that someone had entered his hotel room, he reported his findings to the hotel staff, a local non-emergency police line, and Smith’s management team, and that someone from the management team “shamed” him and threatened he’d be fired, which quickly occurred. 

Joseph says as a result of the incident, he has experienced “severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages” following the alleged incident and the termination that he claims resulted from it, including “PTSD and other mental illness.”