Will Smith’s attorneys say a choose ought to throw out a “farce of a lawsuit” introduced by an electrical violinist who carried out on the star’s Based on a True Story tour final 12 months.
The Feb. 20 movement, obtained by Billboard, is Smith’s first courtroom submitting responding to sexual harassment and retaliation claims leveled against him by violinist Brian King Joseph in December. King, who got here in third place on season 13 of America’s Got Talent, says he was wrongly fired from Smith’s worldwide tour after complaining that any individual had damaged into his lodge room and left sexually suggestive supplies.
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“Brian King Joseph is using the California court system to maliciously ensnare [Will Smith] in a frivolous lawsuit,” reads the movement, filed by Smith’s attorneys on the agency Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani. “The false and salacious allegations in plaintiff’s complaint undoubtedly make for tabloid fodder but, like most tabloid stories, they are untrue, inflammatory, legally baseless, and are nothing but an attempted money grab.”
Smith denies ever sexually harassing Joseph. As Joseph’s lawsuit acknowledges, it’s not identified who it was that broke into his Las Vegas lodge room and left a bottle of HIV remedy, an earring and a word – and Smith says it completely wasn’t him or anyone on his workforce.
Joseph’s case makes an attempt to join Smith to the lodge room incident by claiming that the actor and singer was “grooming” him beforehand. But Smith says there’s no fact to this “absurd conclusion” both, noting that he was by no means even alone with Joseph.
According to Smith, the true cause Joseph had to go away the Based on a True Story tour was as a result of he usually arrived late for rehearsals, behaved erratically and made different performers really feel uncomfortable.
“Plaintiff was never promised a regular position in the band,” writes Smith’s attorneys. “Ultimately, it was determined that plaintiff was not a good fit for the band and he was not invited to perform at further shows.”
Ultimately, Smith argues within the movement {that a} Los Angeles choose ought to dismiss the lawsuit completely as a result of Joseph has not pled any legitimate info to prop up his claims.
Reached for touch upon Smith’s arguments on Friday (Feb. 27), Joseph’s lawyer Jonathan J. Delshad instructed Billboard, “A jury’s ultimate determination matters more to us than Mr. Smith’s opinion of this case.”
“The defense’s ‘press-release rhetoric’ that they added to the brief is not evidence,” mentioned Delshad. “We will oppose the motions and present the facts in court. When the case is complete, the gap between the rhetoric and the factual record will be obvious.”
Smith’s dismissal movement is about to be thought-about by a choose at a listening to in April.
