Anoushka Matanda-Doughty

Hello and welcome back to Fame Under Fire from BBC Sounds with me Anushka Matanda-Doughty. And today I'm joined again by our resident trial attorney Sean Kent. Hi Sean. Hey Anushka, how are you guys doing? I'm doing good. I don't know if we filled everyone in on what you did with the trip to Mexico. Can you just make everyone really jealous and hate their bosses for a second?

No ei, haluaisin vain ottaa tämän mahdollisuuden, jotta voin käsitellä puheenvuoroni.

I'm going to South Carolina. You got to put up with me for 360 days. But, you know, Sean, I know you've missed having a lawsuit a week to read about a celebrity. So I bring you what you want. We have this Will Smith lawsuit. This was requested quite a few times by some of the listeners. Thank you to everybody who is texting me on Instagram and TikTok. I see them. We get round to them. And you found the coverage of the Will Smith lawsuit quite confusing. So did I. I was seeing different things everywhere I looked. And then when I read the lawsuit,

It kind of made sense why people found it confusing. Sean, I'll just walk you through it, yeah? Yeah, good by me. Okay, so this is a civil lawsuit. Reminder, not criminal, civil. So we have a plaintiff. In this case it's Brian King Joseph, and he's saying he suffered damages at the hands of Will Smith and his company, Trayball Productions. And there are some other people listed as defendants, but they're Jane and John Doe. So Sean, just remind us, that's keeping their anonymity, right?

Now the plaintiff Brian King-Joseph, he's suing for retaliation and sexual harassment and he alleges that he experienced this at the hands of Will Smith and his company. Some of you guys are going to be aware of what that is because we have spoken about retaliation and sexual harassment quite a lot, particularly on the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni case, but we will break it down in this episode for you just before we get into that.

Will Smith, his company, they deny all of these allegations. His lawyer told us, 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. So flat out denial from Will Smith. But this is how the story goes. Brian King Joseph is a professional violinist and he rose to fame on America's Got Talent. My name is Brian King Joseph. I'm from Los Angeles and I play violin.

Ja kertoisitko, Sean, että tämä kaveri voi soittaa viulista. Hän tulee huomioon tästä. Jos et tiedä, että Amerikassa on taiteilijaa, voit mennä ja näyttää taiteilijaa. Maailma katsoo sinut, he valitsevat sinut ja valitsevat sinut ulkopuolelle. Hän oli näyttänyt siellä Will Smithin kanssa. Hän oli tuotannossa Will Smithin globaalista toukosta, joka on nimeltään Based on a True Story ja se oli vuonna 2025.

Now, Sean, to keep it simple, I'm gonna call Brian King Joseph Brian for this, or the plaintiff. You guys know what plaintiff means, you're all experts, but we're gonna call him Brian from now on, and I will not be calling Will Smith Willard, because it just makes me laugh and feel like Uncle Phil.

Tässä on se, mitä lainsäädäntö kertoo.

Sen jälkeen Smith yritti järjestäjää Briania soittamaan muutaman kappaleen jälkeen, ja heidän yhteistyönsä kasvoi yhä enemmän. Smith ja järjestäjä alkoivat kulkemaan lisää aikaa yksin Will Smithin kanssa, jossa hän kertoi Brianille, että hän ja minä olemme erittäin erilaisia yhteyksiä, joita minulla ei ole muun muassa, ja toiset erilaiset esitykset, jotka osoittavat hänen läheisyytensä järjestäjäksi. Haluan vain, että sinä muistat tämän järjestäjän. Pitäkää se pysyvästi mielessäsi, koska se tulee takaisin loppuun.

Now, in or around March 2025, Brian joined Will Smith for the leg of his tour in Las Vegas, Nevada. The defendant, Smith, Trable Productions, booked rooms for Brian and the rest of the band and crew members, with each individual room number and confirmation code being sent on a spreadsheet to cast and crew. No other individuals besides the crew and hotel staff would have had access.

access to Brian's personal room. Now Brian left his bag, which contained his key in the van, that's what he alleges, and that was the van that was responsible for transporting all cast and crew, members of Will Smith's production team and the band, etc. He left it there around 11 a.m. when they were dropped off. He requested that management retrieve his bag at 3 p.m., at which point management indicated they were unable to find it. At 5 p.m., management returned to plaintiff with the bag, which contains his keys.

Jatkuvasti marraskuun 20.2.2025 yli 11.00 aamulla, kun pysyvät hotellissa Las Vegasissa järjestettynä Will Smithin reissun kanssa, järjestäjä tuli asennettuun hotellisuuteen. Tämä on sitten, kun hänellä on pakko, kiinni ja mennä hotellisuuteen. Hän aloittaa puhelun ja löytää tiedon, että tietoinen henkilö on mennyt luonnollisesti ruumiin. Tämä on se, mitä hän tarkoittaa.

According to hotel security staff, it says, there was no signs of forced entry into the room and the only individuals with access to the room would have been part of defendant's management team, part of Will Smith's management team, who booked the room for Brian. This information was documented by phone calls between plaintiff and hotel security.

The evidence that he says he finds in his room that shows he thinks somebody's been in there without his knowledge included a handwritten note addressed to plaintiff by name which read, quote, Brian, I'll be back no later than 5.30. Just us, with a love heart that was drawn, signed Stone F. Among the remaining belongings were wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication and another individual's name, an earring and hospital discharge paperwork belonging to a person unbeknownst to plaintiff.

Painted feared that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts with him. So this is the issue. He's come in his room and he's found this. This is what Brian alleged happened. Now, I can hear you saying to me, as you do many, many times, if this has happened, he should call the police. He should get documented evidence, right? Yes. In this case.

Brian says he notified security at the hotel and people who work for Smith, obtained photo documentation, requested a room change and called the local non-emergency police line to report the incident. Followed the instructions given by Smith's management, he filed a full written incident report with hotel security, communicated with hotel management and offered to provide all information to defendant. He made clear that his only concern was safety and that he did not wish to receive any special treatment or compensation.

Sean, they wouldn't put in the lawsuit that he did all of these things corroborating evidence if they didn't have it, right? Because then would that get you in trouble with a judge?

Tämän lainsäädäntöön näkyy paljon korroboroituksia, jossa Brian löysi näitä asioita, erityisesti kuvauksia, jos hän sanoo, että saa kuvan siitä. Hän puhui poliisivuoksiin, hotellin turvallisuuteen ja Will Smithin hallituksen joukkoon. Hän sanoo, että tämän jälkeen, marr. 23, hän meni ulos Will Smithin joukkoon puhumaan seuraavasta joukkueesta, mutta hän alkoi huomioida häntä tämän marr. 20-luvun tapaamisesta, kun hän meni huoneeseen ja löysi näitä asioita.

It says, quote,