IT’S fair to assume Will Smith had high hopes for a better year ahead after a disastrous stretch of career lows and romance woes.
But as 2026 rang in, the fallen Oscar-winner and rapper was slapped with a lawsuit amid claims of sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
Violinist Brian King Joseph, who performed on Will’s 2025 tour, Based On A True Story, accuses the A-lister of “grooming” him while they worked together.
And he alleges that when he reported things to management, he was kicked off the tour and “shamed” by the powers that be.
According to Brian, who reached the top three on America’s Got Talent in 2018, he was hired by Will in 2024 after auditioning for him at his home.
Will apparently told him: “You and I have a special connection.”
Then, while touring with him in Las Vegas last March, he says he came back to his hotel room at 11pm and found it had been “unlawfully entered” by an “unknown person”, who had left a handwritten note, as well as random items including wipes, a beer bottle, an earring and a bottle of HIV medication.
The note read: “Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us” with a drawn heart, and signed: “Stone F.”
In legal filings, Brian says he reported the incident to hotel security and Will’s management out of fear someone would return to his room to “engage in sexual acts” with him.
But after doing so, he alleges, he was “shamed” by tour management and given the boot, causing him “severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm and other damages” as well as “PTSD and other mental illness”.
‘Lost all self-control’
According to the lawsuit, a member of Will’s tour management told Brian, “Everyone is telling me that what happened to you is a lie, nothing happened, and you made the whole thing up”, court documents state.
Though not naming Will, 57, as the unknown person who entered his room, court papers say the “facts suggest” the star was “deliberately grooming and priming Mr Joseph for further sexual exploitation”.
He is now demanding a jury trial.
Will denies all allegations, with his attorney Allen B. Grodsky slamming Brian’s claims as “false, baseless and reckless”.
He added: “They are categorically denied, and we will use all legal means available to . . . ensure that the truth is brought to light.”
A court battle would be an ugly circus for Will at a time when he could really use some good news in the public eye.
After all, things have ostensibly gone from bad to worse for the former blockbuster king over the past few years.
It’s now approaching the four-year anniversary of the Oscar slap that was heard around the world, when an irate Will stormed the stage at the 94th Academy Awards and hit comedian Chris Rock across the face.
The incident was sparked after Chris made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, which was a result of her alopecia, and amid Will’s calls to “keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!”.
It was supposed to be Will’s night of triumph as he finally received an Oscar for his critically acclaimed performance in King Richard.
Instead, it went down in infamy as the night he lost all self-control.
He was duly given a seven-year ban from all Academy, Grammy, Tony and Emmy events and, in the aftermath, shirked the spotlight.
Since then, things haven’t gone smoothly.
In fact, his road to redemption has been paved with constant knocks and embarrassing detours, personally and professionally.
SMITH’S ACCUSER
Claims an ‘unknown person unlawfully entered’ his hotel room and left items and a note saying ‘I’ll be back’.
He feared they’d return and ‘engage in sexual acts’ with him.
He says he was then ‘shamed’ by WIll Smith’s management
team and sacked.
In particular, his unconventional relationship with Jada, 54, has been the subject of much scrutiny and confusion.
Having long been pegged as one of Hollywood’s golden couples, the pair hit headlines in 2020 when they revealed during an episode of Jada’s Facebook series Red Table Talk that she’d had an affair a few years before with singer August Alsina.
At the time, Jada described it as an “entanglement”.
As a result, she and Will had even more of a point to prove when they stepped on to the red carpet at that fateful 2022 Oscars.
But a year later, Jada dropped a motherlode of truth bombs about their relationship in her 2023 memoir, Worthy.
In the book, and on its promo trail, she revealed that — despite putting on a united front in public — she and Will had been separated for seven years and no longer lived together.
According to Jada, she’d kept up the facade because Will “wasn’t ready” to tell the world.
So instead, she said, she took the bullet, painting herself as “the adulterous wife” in the “false narrative” they created.
While the pair had no intention of divorcing — and still have not done so — Will was reportedly “humiliated” by Jada’s candidness.
They used to live by their famous slogan, paraphrased from Will’s movie Bad Boys: “We ride together, we die together, bad marriage for life.”
But Jada’s revelations apparently left Will feeling more isolated than ever — which, insiders said at the time, was a bitter pill to swallow after he defended her at the Oscars.
Crashed and burned
As things stand, Will and Jada still have no plans to officially end their 28-year marriage.
SMITH’S LAWYER
The claims are ‘false, baseless and reckless.
They are categorically denied, and we will use all legal means available
to ensure that the truth is brought to light’.
They came together to wish their daughter Willow a happy birthday in October, and have since been reportedly pictured together in public.
But as news spread of Brian’s lawsuit against Will, Jada stayed noticeably quiet.
She previously said that, at some stage, they’ll live together again, but only because, “it’s getting apparent to me that [Will’s] gonna need someone to take care of him” — making her ex sound more like a burden.
Meanwhile, Will’s attempt to reclaim his place on the A-list have seen things go from bad to worse.
In late 2023, as the dust settled on Jada’s marriage revelations, Will was accused of previously having sex with his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Duane Martin.
In an interview with internet personality Tasha K, Brother Bilaal — who described himself as Will’s ex-personal assistant — said he’d walked in on the alleged act.
A court battle would be an ugly circus for Will at a time when he could really use some good news in the public eye
On podcast Unwine with Tasha K, he also compared the size of Will’s manhood to a “pinky toe”.
In response, Will’s spokesperson slammed the claims as “completely fabricated” and said they were considering taking legal action.
No action was taken, but Brother Bilaal hasn’t gone quietly.
In fact, he’s since filed a $3million lawsuit against Jada, alleging “emotional distress”.
Neither Will nor Jada have commented, but a hearing is scheduled for March 9, inevitably casting another shadow over them.
Then, of course, there is Will’s damp squib of an attempt to reignite his music career that crashed and burned with last year’s tour.
In late 2023, as the dust settled on Jada’s marriage revelations, Will was accused of previously having sex with his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Duane Martin
Having long proven himself as a multi- hyphenate entertainer, it should have been a safe bet for Will to return to his rapper roots after his Oscar disgrace.
That way, he could continue to make us miss him on the big screen, while still connecting to his fans and making up for a few years of lost income.
So, his comeback tour, Based On A True Story, really was supposed to be an all-out triumph.
‘Used to be cool’
However, promotional footage started going viral for all the wrong reasons, after fans accused the star of using AI in crowd reactions.
In the film — which was posted to Will’s YouTube channel — there were a whole host of bizarre visual errors, including blurred faces, oddly shaped hands and one sign that read “FR6SH CRINCE”.
As one fan said: “Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds and bot comments on your video. Tragic, man. You used to be cool.”
Will looked a shadow of his former self as he kicked off the European leg of his tour in front of 6,000 fans in Scarborough at TK Maxx Presents . . . last summer, followed by Wolverhampton Civic Hall and the O2 Academy in Brixton.
Let’s remember, this is a former superstar who performed in front of more than half-a-million people at the Live 8 event in Philadelphia in 2005.
Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds and bot comments on your video. Tragic, man. You used to be cool
A fan
The same year, he set a Guinness World Record after attending an unprecedented three movie premieres in one day.
He hightailed it across the UK to promote romcom Hitch in Manchester, Birmingham and London.
Back then, he was untouchable, with two US No1s under his belt and the ability to command leading- man status in films including Men In Black (and its sequels), as well as Ali, The Pursuit Of Happyness and I Am Legend.
But nothing lasts for ever, and Will’s much more modest tour last year was a reminder of how far he’s fallen from grace.
He put on a brave face, but the online comments spoke for themselves.
One fan called him “pathetic” and told him to “enjoy” his retirement instead of seeking his former glory.
Now, as the former Hollywood icon begins the year facing a lawsuit, it’s fair to say he is staring down the barrel of yet another challenging 12 months.
Having always relied on his family to support him, the world will be watching to see if he steps out with Jada and their children, Jaden, 27, and Willow, 25 — plus his older son Trey, 33, from a previous marriage.
But as things stand, all parties had yesterday remained silent.
It may be early days for 2026, but Will has certainly taken a sharp detour from the golden road he trod for so long.
With no movies on the docket, he’s hanging his hat on upcoming National Geographic docu-series, Pole To Pole With Will Smith.