The judge also found Joseph\u2019s belief that the \u201cdefendant Will Smith was involved in the decision to terminate [him] is conclusory and unsupported by any of the factual allegations\u201d outlined in the complaint.<\/p>\n
Under California law, a demurrer tests whether a complaint is legally sufficient. Joseph has now been granted 30 days to amend the filing.<\/p>\n
Joseph\u2019s original complaint alleged Smith had \u201cdeliberately groomed and primed\u201d him for \u201cfurther sexual exploitation\u201d after inviting him to participate in the global tour in November 2024.<\/p>\n
The filing described what Brian called a \u201ctraumatic series of events\u201d during March 2025 while travelling on tour.<\/p>\n
He alleged he discovered evidence that someone had entered his Las Vegas hotel room without forced entry.<\/p>\n
According to the complaint, items allegedly discovered inside the room included a handwritten note reading: \u201cBrian, I\u2019ll be back … just us,\u201d alongside a heart symbol signed \u201cStone F\u201d.<\/p>\n
The complaint also referenced \u201cwipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication with another individual\u2019s name, an earring and hospital discharge paperwork belonging to a person unbeknownst to\u201d Joseph.<\/p>\n
Joseph further alleged he \u201cfeared that an unknown individual would soon return to his room to engage in sexual acts\u201d with him.<\/p>\n
Shortly before filing the lawsuit, Joseph discussed the matter in a social media video in December.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI can\u2019t get too into the details of exactly what that was because it\u2019s already a legal issue right now, but the reason why I\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the lawsuit was filed, Smith\u2019s lawyer Allen B. Grodsky strongly denied the accusations in a statement.<\/p>\n
Grodsky said: \u201cMr Joseph\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The judge also found Joseph\u2019s belief that the \u201cdefendant Will Smith was involved in the decision to terminate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3376,74,9092,806,5159,11783,179,430,6097,156,75013,53733,3958,9860,7324,6712,21437,111,139,69,25018,17711,34742,17703,5257,16189,20705,6271,8982,215783,1533,6202],"class_list":["post-420235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-actor","tag-after","tag-against","tag-as","tag-brian","tag-brought","tag-california","tag-celebrities","tag-down","tag-entertainment","tag-harassment","tag-joseph","tag-judge","tag-king","tag-lawsuit","tag-legal","tag-narrows","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-partial","tag-parts","tag-secured","tag-sexual","tag-significant","tag-smith","tag-struck","tag-suit","tag-victory","tag-violinist","tag-will","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}