Law&Crime Sidebar - Will Smith Sued by Violinist in Shocking Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Episode Date: January 4, 2026

Actor Will Smith is facing new allegations in a lawsuit filed by Brian King Joseph, a touring musician who claims he was sexually harassed while working on Smith’s live tour in late 2024 and early 2025 — including an alleged incident involving his hotel room during a Las Vegas stop — and then fired after reporting safety concerns. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the explosive allegations laid out in the newly filed complaint.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Big news in the entertainment world. Will Smith has just been officially sued by a professional violinist who claims he was the victim of sexual harassment and retaliation. Getting fired or getting blamed or shamed or threatened or anything like that, simply for reporting sexual misconduct or safety. threats at work is not okay we are going to go over the new complaint the allegations the potential

evidence whether this is potentially a strong case and we are actually bringing on the attorney who has filed this lawsuit and we're going to do it all for you right now welcome to sidebar presented by law and crime i'm jesse weber all right so we wouldn't be able to bring you this episode if we didn't have the incredible support from our sponsor morgan and morgan we're talking about america's largest personal injury law firm. We're talking about a firm with over a thousand attorneys who have recovered $25 billion for more than 500,000 clients. I mean, in the past few months alone, a client in Florida received $12 million when insurance offered just $350,000. Out in Pennsylvania, another client was awarded $26 million. That is, 40 times the insurer's offer. And Morgan and

Morgan, they make it easy to fight for what you deserve. You can even start a claim from your phone. So if you're injured, you can start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar. You can click the link below or you can scan the QR code on screen. Okay, we've got another celebrity lawsuit that has just come out and is making waves. This time the person getting sued is Will Smith. That's right, the 57-year-old actor, musician, he has been sued by a professional violinist who appeared or was going to appear, I should say, on Smith's tour. And this is a bombshell sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit.

Now, when I say that, you may have an idea of what the allegation. are not quite got to explain i'm going to go over the complaint i'm going to go over the allegations the legal claims we will see if there is something here potentially and remember these are just allegations at this point smith has a right to defend himself nothing has been proven in a court of law he has not been held liable but we have to lay out what's here in this complaint so first i should tell you who's bringing this lawsuit and that's interesting this is a lawsuit that was filed out in california state court on behalf of brian king joseph now before i get into what he alleges first thing to note, his attorney, so the one filing this lawsuit on his behalf is Jonathan Delshod.

We just talked about him a few days ago because Delshod brought those lawsuits against actor and producer Tyler Perry on behalf of two men who claim they were sexually assaulted by Tyler Perry. We're talking about Mario Rodriguez. That lawsuit that was just filed only days ago, we broke down the entire thing on a previous episode of Cybar. You can go check it out. But it is interesting that now he is representing another client suing a major, major, major celebrity figure in the entertainment industry. And as I mentioned, we are going to be bringing in Mr. Del Shod in a minute to talk about this and him filing this lawsuit on behalf of Joseph. But back to Brian King Joseph. Okay, first of all, you may know him because he apparently

appeared on season 13 of America's Got Talent, made it to the top three. So you might know who he is. Now, the complaint starts off by saying that if you don't know he is, he is a professional violinist who was employed by the defendants in this case in connection with a live music tour. So he acted as a musician and a crew member. Now, I want to stop right there. First, he's not only suing Willard Carroll Smith. Yes, that is Will Smith's real name. Didn't know that. That's apparently his full name. But also this management company that was associated with Will Smith, Trey Ball Studios management. And this is the most important part. If you were wondering, well, is that part even true, right? Was there even a connection as he

complete stranger? There is video that Joseph posted on his Instagram back in December of 2020. showing him on stage, playing the violin, where Smith appears to come on stage and introduces him saying, Brian King Joseph, ladies and gentlemen, so this was posted December 15, 2024. Now, Joseph claims that around November of 2024, he was contacted by Smith's people to come out to the actor's house for an introduction, for a potential recording opportunity. He apparently goes there, plays the violin for Smith, claims. that Smith invited him to join him at a performance in San Diego and then join his tour, the based on a true story 2025 tour. And he claims he played at that San Diego show, which,

by the way, that video that I just mentioned seems to be from because Joseph, in the caption to that, posts still pinching myself two sold out nights with the one and only Will Smith at the Observatory North Park, which is in San Diego. So anyway, he claims that Smith wanted him to become more involved in the performances, that he was a valued member of the team, that he wanted to provide him more stage time, that he even invited Joseph to play on Smith's tracks. And this is where Joseph claims that Smith said to him, quote, you and I have such a special connection that I don't have with anyone else. And apparently more things to that effect. Keep that in mind. Now, this next part is very important for the legal case. Okay. So Joseph claims that he was provided

information about the upcoming global tour that he would be a part of or seemingly would be a part of that would last for several months. And quote, in reliance, important legal phrase there, in reliance of that tour, Joseph allegedly told Smith's representatives that he's going to be spending all this money, thousands of dollars for more music equipment, medication, and other things that he's going to need for the tour. Fast forward March of 2025. This is the key month. So Joseph claims that he joined Will Smith for the Las Vegas part of the tour and that all the whole rooms for him and the crew they were booked by the defendants. That no one besides the crew or hotel staff had access to his room. And he claims that he left his bag in the van that was

moving the crew around from place to place. And when he asked management to get his bag at 3 p.m., management claims they couldn't find it. But then two hours later, they allegedly came back with the bag. They found it. So then Joseph claims on the night of March 20th, he goes back to his hotel room and claims there was, quote, evidence that someone had, quote, unlawfully been in his room. He claims hotel security checked it out, said there were no signs of forced entry, meaning no one broke in, that the only people who would have been in there were supposedly Smith's management team. And if you're wondering, you know, how can he prove this? Well, Joseph claims this was documented by phone calls between him and hotel security. So obviously, they would subpoena

the phone records through the course of discovery, right? If this case advances. Now, I'm I'm going to read you this next part from the complaint verbatim, because you may also be asking, well, how does he know that someone was in his room? Quote, the evidence included a handwritten note addressed a plaintiff by name, which read, Brian, I'll be back no later 530, just us, drawn heart, stone F. Among the remaining belongings were wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication with another individual's name and earring, and hospital discharge paperwork. belonging to a person, unbeknownst to plaintiff, plaintiff fear that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts with plaintiff. Now, Joseph claims that he immediately notified security and Smith's team about what had happened, quote, obtained photo documentation, so not sure if that means he took photos of the note

and these items, because obviously that would be very important for his case, that he changed rooms and called the non-emergency police line as well. So if he can prove that all that happened, and there are police and hotel records to confirm that, that is going to be very important. Now, I will say real quick, okay, a couple of questions. Who is Stone F? Is there surveillance footage from the hotel that can be subpoenaed to see who may have entered the room? I mean, this was supposedly only last year. And from a legal point of view, could Smith's defense attorneys argue that drawing a conclusion that someone wanted to engage in sex acts with Joseph is too far a leap based on this evidence?

Right? How do you connect that to Will Smith and his team exactly? I get it. They booked the rooms, but how do you connect that back to Smith? But I'm going to bring on Joseph's attorney in a little bit, so hopefully he can clarify a little bit about this. Joseph claims the next day, so March 21st, he goes back to L.A. to support the crew and the cast for a pre-recorded show. However, he alleges that Tim Miller, complaint doesn't really explain who that is, but Tim Miller talked to him and said, it's too late for you to come through the crew entrance, and that we'll just see everyone. We'll see you in New Mexico for the next part of the tour. But then Joseph alleges a few days later, Miller blames him for what happened in that Las Vegas hotel room incident and that Joseph was ultimately

fired. Quote, when plaintiff requested for further reasoning, Tim Miller, acting on behalf of defendants, redirected the blame for the termination onto plaintiff, replying, I don't know, you tell me, because everyone is telling me that what happened to you is a lie. Nothing happened, and you made the whole thing up. So tell me, why did you lie and make this up? Now, that raises a pretty interesting series of questions, right? Did Miller actually say that to Joseph? And if so, was this a way to just, you know, discredit Joseph? Or, alternatively, why did he really believe that? Are there those refuting Joseph's narrative? In the complaint, Joseph alleges that he was shocked by this accusation from Miller, that he submitted evidence in a timeline, but, quote, defendant never made any effort to verify if the safety concern was true or not. one call to the hotel security would have been sufficient.

Instead, defendant was intent on firing plaintiff because he reported the attempted sexual assault. Miller also indicated in person and via email that the tour was, quote, moving in a different direction, which was part of the reason for plaintiff's termination. However, following plaintiff's report and termination, defendant hired another violinist to assume the same position on the tour. This hiring strongly suggested that defendant stated reason for the termination was pretextual. And from there, the complaint reads,

Plaintiff further pleads on information and belief that defendant's conduct goes beyond a mere failure to protect an employee's safety or a dispute over a claim. Facts strongly suggest that defendant Willard, Carol Smith II, was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation. The sequence of events, Smith's prior statements to plaintiff, and the circumstances of the hotel intrusion, all point to a pattern of predatory behavior rather than an isolated incident. Defendant's actions caused plaintiff severe emotional distress, economic loss, reputational harm, and other damages. Plaintiff was also harmed as a result of the stress of losing his job, his health deteriorated, causing major psychological damage, plaintiff suffered from PTSD and other mental illness as a result of determination. Now, before I get into some early thoughts that I have on this and the actual legal claims and causes of action, Joseph did apparently post the following video on Instagram just days before this lawsuit was filed.

Earlier this year, I was hired to be a performer on a major, major tour with somebody who is huge in the industry. So I was excited, you know, proud of myself for getting the opportunity. Unfortunately, some things happened, and I can't get into the details of exactly what that was because it's already a legal issue right now. But the reason why I'm speaking out about this is because getting fired or getting, blamed or shamed or threatened or anything like that simply for reporting sexual misconduct or safety threats at work is not okay. So he didn't really get into who he was talking about or the legal claims before the filing was made public. Okay, before I get into the legal claims, if this did happen to him and he can prove it. And remember, when talking about a civil case,

it's not a criminal case, the burden of proof is much lower trial. It is upsetting. Okay. And you can see how much of a negative effect this would have had on him. However, I do have to ask, based just on the four corners of this complaint, is this a bit speculative? You know, attaching this one bizarre episode to Will Smith and a pattern of predatory behavior, is it too much of a leap? Is there enough connective tissue there? How can you suggest that Smith or his team were part of this or were responsible?

Does there need to be more proof of sexual exploitation here? What were the other alleged comments that Smith made to Joseph over time? Is that one posted comment in the complaint? Is that enough from Smith about a special connection? Is that overtly sexual? Is this just about an artistic connection? There's room there to debate. And while, of course, a complaint is more bare bones and claims can be further developed

during the course of discovery, and when information and evidence is exchanged, text, phone records, email, surveillance footage, but is it to bare bones right now? You wonder if Smith will try to move for what we call in the law summary judgment on this. Basically, that there's no genuine issue for either a judge or jury to decide here. There's no legal claim. Not saying it would be effective, not saying it would work, but just reading the allegations is laid out, do they support a case against Smith and this management company? Maybe, maybe not.

But maybe I'm a little overly critical. We're going to bring on Joseph's attorney in a little bit, clarify this position. So stay tuned for that. Let me go through this. These are the causes of action. So the first cause of action or claim is for retaliation, violation of California law. Basically, the argument is it is illegal for an employer to fire or discriminate against an employee who reports on being sexually harassed.

Now, again, Joseph will have to establish that he engaged in protected activity, namely properly reporting sexual harassment, and that this firing was due to that reporting. Again, Smith, I would imagine, would argue he didn't fire him because he reported sexual harassment. Maybe he was fired for a different reason. that we fired him because, you know, maybe we legitimately believed he made it up, or we fired him because we didn't think that he was good anymore, right? The conversation that Joseph had with Miller, that's Joseph's allegations of that story. What would Miller say happen during that conversation?

The timing of the alleged firing and the alleged incident is an issue for Smith, right? It's an issue for his team, though. That proximity, very close in time, could be difficult. And if they didn't properly investigate Joseph's, let's say, there are legitimate claims That could be an issue for Will Smith. The next claim is also for retaliation, but it's under the labor code. So it's similar, but the argument is that it's illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for revealing information that the employee reasonably believes violates state or federal law. Again, the idea of protected activity.

Same thoughts as above. The third cause, also similar, it's retaliatory termination and violation of public policy. So it's not based on a statute per se, but more California case law. that it has been California law to stop retaliation against employees who complain about workplace health and safety conditions. So it seems to be a broader claim. I did a quick look on this. It appears to be a viable separate cause of action in California. But again, you need that connectivity, right? That he was fired for reporting what he claims was a trespass into his hotel room, protected activity. And again, this will be very fact-specific about what happened in that room,

how he reported, what Miller allegedly said, what Smith and management, what they allegedly knew about this. The fourth claim is for what's known as a Bain Act violation, the Tom Bain Civil Rights Act. So it provides someone a right to sue if they believe their rights under the Constitution or California law have been interfered with. Here the claim is, is that Joseph had a right to report safety hazards and not be retaliated against. The rights he claims are protected by California labor law and the state constitution, a guarantee of personal safety and security. This is a notable section, quote, following these protected actions, defendants through their agents and representatives engaged in threats. intimidation, and or coercion by abruptly terminating plaintiff's employment, falsely stating they were moving in a different direction and replacing him with another violinist.

Again, fair to allege, but is what Miller allegedly did and the subsequent alleged termination. Threats, intimidation, coercion. My opinion, I don't know, I could be wrong. I think that needs to be fleshed out a little bit more, but we're in the early stages. Fifth cause of action, Ralph Act violation. So this is the Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976. It protects people from violence or threats. because of sex or sexual orientation.

And the claim here is the alleged intrusion into his hotel room was a violent act or a threat or intimidation of a sexual nature. Quote, the circumstances including the personal nature of the items left behind, the note addressed to plaintiff and prior statements by Smith to plaintiffs, such as you and I have such a special connection, support the inference that plaintiff believed that the substantial motivating reason for the unlawful entry and related conduct was plaintiff's sex and or sexual orientation. Again, goes to the idea of, is that alleged statement from Smith overtly sexual and enough to establish that Joseph had a reasonably based belief in inference that he was fired and retaliated against because of sex and sexual orientation? Six, we have sexual harassment in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, which essentially protects employees from harassment or discrimination. The actual excerpt from the code says it makes it illegal for an employer or any other person because of sex to harass an employee. Further states, an employer may also be responsible for the acts of non-employees with respect to harassment of employees. And here, Joseph claims that he was employed by the defendants.

He was working out of California for preparing for the tour. That's why, by the way, it's California law violation, California jurisdiction, that someone broke into his hotel room while on tour for the defendants. So we're talking about a course of employment. And there was allegedly a note that was left with the intent to engage in sex acts, according to him, a note that was left in a hotel room that was assigned and arranged for by the defendants. They allegedly didn't do anything about it after Joseph reported on it and he was fired for it. Now, throughout the complaint, Joseph discusses the harm that he allegedly suffered and the damages that he believes he's entitled to. So allegedly severe emotional distress, fear of his safety, economic loss, PTSD, damage to his reputation, claims that he's entitled to a wide

array of economic damages. And I will say this. The harm suffered could be the strongest claim. Because if he can properly allege everything above, right, and that he was fired for reporting a legitimate workplace safety issue, then it may be an easier road to prove how he suffered financially and people calling him a liar and that he reaches this opportunity and for it to be taken away in this fashion. Probably will require him to testify, but just initial thoughts on that. Now, at the time of this recording, I haven't been able to see a statement that was released on Will Smith's part of firm as representatives. However, according to people, magazine, Smith's attorney, Alan B. Gradsky said, quote, 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.

Now, I will also say this. This lawsuit comes at a precarious time for the actor, right? After the fallout from the Oscars Chris Rock travesty, him reportedly trying to do these collaborations with influencers online. You do wonder if his side will say, you know what, Joseph launches this lawsuit out of all times right now? There's a strong chance that'll accuse Joseph of instituting this lawsuit at a time when Will Smith's career reputation may have taken a bit of a hit. So it's like piling on. I mean, on top of this, remember, this lawsuit comes in the wake of Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, being sued in a $3 million lawsuit by her former associate who alleges that she threatened him and

demanded he sign an NDA. So the timing here is very important. It always will go to issues of credibility. Let's see how it plays out. Okay, so now I want to break this down a little bit further with the attorney who is representing Mr. Joseph and who has filed this lawsuit on his behalf, Jonathan Delshad. Thank you so much for taking time. Really, really appreciate it. My first question is, why file this lawsuit right now, right? Right before January, 2026 was it strategic to file at this time you know it's not a strategic move on this case the truth is uh it's just i had a little bit of extra time during the end of the year it's quiet in the office i'm able to get a lot of more work done without people interrupting me here

and there so uh no i mean we've we've been working on this case for quite a while and it's not a strategic it wasn't a strategic decision to do it towards the end of the year but was more a function of when I had the mental capacity to finish it out, get it done, get it ready, and get it filed. Gotcha. How's your client doing, by the way? I mentioned before that there was a video that he released before the lawsuit was filed. And then afterwards, there was an Instagram story. We was talking about the support that he has received. So in the wake of filing this lawsuit and it being publicized, and it's been in the news cycle now for like 24 hours, how's he doing? Yeah, you know, I've spoken to him, and I, you know, without getting into too much

client communication, you know, he is very thankful for support that he's getting. It's a lot. You know, this story has caught the attention of a lot of media and a lot of people are talking about this and he's getting a lot of messages and people are asking him to come on their shows and talk about the case and talk about things that are going on. And right now, you know, I've been counseling him just to sit tight. Let's just let things kind of blow over. And if at a later time he wants to, he can. But, you know, it's just, it's a lot right now, and a lot of people are emailing him. But he is very thankful for the amount of support that he's getting. It's a tough thing to go through, you know, somebody like him, although he has been in America's Got Talent, he has had some fame. Putting yourself out against somebody, the likes of Will Smith is not an easy thing to do.

And so it takes a lot of courage, and it takes a lot of guts to do what he did. And he felt it was the right move to do. And I think it is as well. No, that's 100% true. And you and I both know from a legal perspective to make a very public case and a very public claim against a high profile celebrity when there are avenues in the law where someone could file a lawsuit anonymously, I'm not saying that's what your client wanted to do or not, but sometimes there's an avenue, you know, that goes to a clear issue

of credibility and it goes to a clear issue of why do this. I did have a couple of questions for you as I was breaking it down the lawsuit, and I was hoping you could clarify them. So obviously a part of this lawsuit is narrative of this goes to trial is going to be understanding what happened in that hotel room. The part that I'm struggling with and I'm trying to understand is how you connect it back to Will Smith. So on one hand, I understand that it was, you know, the defendants, right? Him and this management company together that were part of booking the rooms for this tour. But the idea of that what he, your client, claims he found in that room was a form of sexual harassment that was tied back to Will Smith because of a comment that he made, or maybe even a series of comments, even though it seems like there was only one that was listed, and that he, you know, that he was fired because of that. I think that's a, I'm struggling understanding the connective tissue back to Will Smith, if you could explain it to me.

Sure. And I don't want to get ahead of my skis here because, you know, again, we haven't done discovery. We don't know what the facts are going to bear out. But again, the allegations here so far, I think the main allegations in our complaint are that some type of retaliation for reporting sexual harassment. So that's the main thrust of the arguments here. Again, what was written on the note that was allegedly written on the note, everything I'm going to say is allegedly because it's all, of course, based off the complaint, information, and belief. at this point in time. I've seen some of the evidence. What was allegedly written on that note and what was presented to him and what Mr. Joseph, my client, reported to his employer, in my mind, is a clear reporting of sexual harassment. And so that's where we think that the case is the strongest and that that reporting was then taken to and reviewed by management. And then after that, he was just completely wiped off the tour. So, I mean, he was, he was, he was, he was, was headlined in one of the earlier concerts that they did with Will Smith. And, you know, Will Smith brought him on stage with fanfare and people loved him. And then all of a sudden,

they're like, well, we don't need a violinist anymore. And then they went ahead and hired another violinist. Right. Does your client have an idea of who wrote that note? He doesn't. We've done some independent research into it. And I don't want to disclose that at this point in time. Totally fair. Is there anything you can say, whether or not the person who wrote that note is somehow connected to Will Smith. I know you're, can you say anything about that? I can't say anything. I think that's going to be something that discovery is going to bear out. Okay. And we're going to have to find out later in this case. I mean, we have our, we have our theories. We have our, you know, beliefs. And I, and I think you're spot on, by the way. That's the

critical question in this in tying it back, meaning can we tie that back to us? But I think that there's a second option as well. That's just for the sexual harassment part of it. For the reporting, you know, clearly it got back to Will Smith. I mean, that the reporting was reported to the tour manager, the right-hand man. Is that Tim Miller, by the way? Is that Tim Miller? Yeah, that's, okay. Right. And so that, you know, that's, I assume you're not asking about that, about the retaliation for the reporting. I'm assuming you're asking about, did he know that that was in there? And then the question becomes, why is he retaliating for reporting? And that's the critical question here. So I have a made of question. So let me first start with the

the Tim Miller part, because you brought it up. Based on that perceived alleged conversation, couldn't an argument be, and I understand your argument would be they didn't even properly investigate his claims, they didn't even look into it, they should have spoken to at least hotel security. That wasn't done. That was the minimum that was required. I imagine based on the complaint, Tim Miller would say either A, your client was let go because they decided to go in a different direction in terms of a violinist, or B, that they believe that he made all this up. Why? And if that's what's alleged in the complaint, why would Tim Miller claim that your client made up this whole Las Vegas hotel room incident? Why would he claim? I have no idea why he would

make that claim. I mean, that's something that we're going to have to bear out in discovery. But that's precisely what goes to this concept of pretext, right? When something just doesn't make sense when you're like looking at a you know typically when an employee is higher to do a job and they're doing it well the employer is happy with that employee and they want to continue employing them they're making money off of them and so at a certain point if they if something happens and they just for for weird reasons let go of the employee you got to look back at the employer and say is that the real reason they're doing this is there something else going on here and so that's kind of precisely what we're going on with here is that it just doesn't seem plausible that you would let

somebody go for reporting this unless there was something bigger going on. I guess the question is, do you know of anybody that would support Tim Miller? Like there were cast or crew who said, listen, yeah, I thought Joseph was making this up. Like, do you know of anybody that is going to come forward and say that? Because that seems to be, based purely on that conversation, that Tim Miller was told by someone or several people that this wasn't true, unless you're saying This is completely, he doesn't have anybody. I mean, all Tim Miller would have had to have done was call security at the hotel, and they would have pulled up the cameras, and you would see that it's not, that it was true.

That's it. It's very simple. So to say that it was being made up, I think he's, I don't know if that's the argument they're going to make. When we take Tim Miller's deposition, I don't know if that's what he's going to say, he's going to say something else. But if that is what he says, I mean, you know, why didn't you just do a quick call? to the security department, you know, these Vegas hotels have very tight security, very tight. I was going to ask you, did you have an opportunity to review the surveillance footage to

see who may have entered your client's room? We know that there's surveillance footage out there. Okay. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. I just want to go back to Will Smith for a second. And correct me if I'm wrong, but there was one comment that was listed in the complaint,

and this is an overarching claim of sexual harassment. To be clear, is your client alleging that Will Smith ever sexually harassed him or propositioned him in any way? I don't think that's the, that's not the claim that's being made in our complaint right now. 100%. But the comment that Will Smith allegedly made to him was put there for a reason. No, it was that comment that he allegedly made. And I believe there was in a reference to other unidentified comments that would give him

rise to believe that whatever was left in his hotel room went to this claim of sexual harassment in a way. Right. I think that remains to be seen. I'm not again, I don't want to get ahead of my skis on that. Those are facts that are going to come out in discovery. And you're asked me to kind of hypothesize on what may have happened in this case. And again, you know, as an attorney, our job is to advocate for our clients to figure out the facts. At this point, you know, the only side of the story I know is from what my client tells me. Sure. We want to do the discovery. We want to get into the weeds of this case. We want to figure out exactly what happened. Who was involved in this? And, you know, there's

ways that we can figure that stuff out. And slowly by slowly, as things come out, you know, we're happy to come back on and give you updates and let you know what we found. But I don't want to get ahead of my skis on this stuff. Totally fair. Let me just ask you this. Was there another quoted comment that Will Smith allegedly made to your client that you know about that you could have included in the complaint? Because it was just that one, and I think there was reference to it was, there were other comments that might have been made that were similar to that. Do you know if there were other comments that Will Smith allegedly made to your client

in that vein? You know, again, I'm not trying to be cheeky or anything like that. I actually don't recall if my client told me other things or maybe I wasn't focused on it. It could be that I was made aware of other things and I decided not to put them in there. I wasn't hyper-focused on that issue. Just again, because when we're dealing with complaints and sometimes we do leave stuff out of complaints because we want to prove them later. And in California, you don't need to specifically plead every little fact that's involved.

So at this point, I don't recall why it was that I maybe only included that one statement. I wish I could give you a better answer than that, but I don't want to- Totally fair. Totally fair. I just was curious. Yes. What is your client hoping for at this moment? Is his goal to, you know, what is his goal at the end of the day by filing this lawsuit, making this public, potentially taking this to trial? You know, there's multiple causes of action. When you're dealing with these kinds of cause of action, there could be, you know, quite a hefty damages award if this goes to trial. What is he looking for at this point? look you know my client like all clients that at the end of the day they're not the ones who brought this you know it's always a lot of times people ask the plaintiff's fine well you brought this

lawsuit no we didn't when the defendant acts in a certain way that's contrary to the law the plaintiff has the right to bring a lawsuit to find to get justice it's a better system than you know other countries have where you know justice is fought out and with weapons or other things right this is the way that he gets to vindicate his right to be free from retaliation in the workplace or be free from sexual harassment in the workplace. These are the ways that he gets to retaliate. So, you know, it wasn't he that made this public. They acted in a certain way towards him, which caused this lawsuit to happen.

Now, what does he want? Like all clients, they want justice, right? They want whatever the law thinks is fair for them. And so in this case, we didn't even put a dollar amount, dollar figure in the complaint. We want the jury to decide on their own what they think that his damages were. And whatever his damages were, that's what he's looking for. I mean, he's not looking to hurt Will Smith or cause him any more unnecessary pain or suffering or anything like that.

But at the end of the day, he wants justice for what happened to him. He had a career trajectory that was looking really good when he got hired for this tour and everything went sour as soon as he reported this issue. So that's kind of, you know, how do you make him whole? How do you come up with that number? that's something that a jury is really good at doing after listening to the evidence. But, you know, we have a long ways to go until we get there. And finally, before I let you go, there's a big part about this complaint about the harm

that your client suffered, right? The financial harm, the emotional distress, the PTSD. What, if you can describe, what has life been like for him since his time on the tour ended? It's kind of a hard thing for me to pinpoint or describe, but I could see it. There's, you know, sometimes clients come to my office and some clients, you know, they've been terminated. And my practice, 98% of the people that call my office, I don't take their case. You know, I'm a very, very selective attorney.

I take very, very few clients. And when they come to my office and we talk about their case, and I, you know, I get to see certain emotions, depending on who they bring with them, you know, sometimes people bring people for support to the office. They'll bring a friend, they'll bring a mother, a brother, a spouse. And you can kind of ask them and talk to them and say, you know, how has he been after this situation? And I'll tell you, you know, there's a range. There's a spectrum. And some people, they bounce back really quickly. You know, they get fired from a job. No problem. Two days later, they're onto another job and they're feeling good. And some people, you know, go through a deep, dark depression.

Question. Losing a job, when somebody has a job, they think about hope and they think about the future and they think about how great life is. And when that gets taken away from you, especially when it's taken away from you in a way where you feel like it was unfair, it leaves a big hole. And some people have a harder time being resilient and bouncing back from that. And some people don't. And so a lot of people look at it and they say, oh, you know, why doesn't he just get back up and find another job, do something else, move on with his life? That's easier said than done for some people. But we got to be sensitive to some other people. who have it a little bit harder. For Mr. Joseph, from what I've seen, he's on the harder end of it. It really affected him for quite a while. And so obviously, as time goes on, everything gets a little bit easier, the pain dolls. But from the spectrum of clients that I see in my office, he was on the higher end, I would say. Well, listen, Mr. Delshot, thank you for taking the time, breaking it down for us, coming on to appear. I would like to continue the conversation as this case progresses. But I really, really appreciate it. And you answering some of our questions about this. you. That's my pleasure. I appreciate it. Thank you for having you. That's all we have for you

right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.