Jada Pinkett Smith faces a new $3 million lawsuit from a former “friend” and assistant of her husband, Will Smith.
Bilaal Salaam, or Brother Bilaal, has participated in a public back-and-forth with the Smiths for years. Now, he is saying in a filing obtained by People that Pinkett Smith tried to “bribe, intimidate and suppress” him. He is suing for damages including financial loss, reputational harm, emotional drama, physical health issues, and “the complete derailment of his personal life and career.”
According to the claim, on September 5, 2021, he was attending a birthday party for Smith at the Regency Calabasas Commons when Pinkett Smith confronted him in the hotel lobby.
He alleges that Pinkett Smith was accompanied by a crew of seven people and “became verbally aggressive, and threatened Plaintiff by stating that if he continued ‘telling her personal business,’ ” he would “‘end up missing or catch a bullet.’” Salaam also said in the filing that Pinkett Smith “demanded” that he sign a nondisclosure agreement, or else,” and afterwards followed him to his car, “continuing to issue verbal threats.”
The claims in Salaam’s lawsuit include significant cultural moments involving the Smiths. He names the infamous slap at the 2022 Oscars, where Smith walked onto the stage and smacked Chris Rock for making a joke about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
Salaam said that he refused to help with “crisis management” after the award show, because he believed the tasks being asked of him were “illegal, unethical, or morally compromising.” After deciding not to provide the crisis management services, he said he was threatened by Smith and Pinkett Smith’s circle, which launched a “retaliatory campaign” against him.
The Salaam lawsuit also relates to the viral and still-memed ‘We suin’ video from 2023, which came after Salaam said in an interview with Tasha K that he walked in on a moment where Smith was having sex with a fellow actor, Duane Martin, prompting swift backlash from the Smith family. He is claiming in the suit that Pinkett Smith “intentionally and maliciously engaged in a smear campaign through nationally broadcast interviews,” afterward, including when Pinkett Smith called Salaam a “person that tried a shakedown, a money shakedown that didn’t work.”
During the interview on “The Breakfast Club” where Pinkett Smith made that comment, she called Salaam’s “ridiculous” and “nonsense,” and confirmed she would sue him.
“We’re gonna take legal action,” she said. “Because it’s one thing to have your opinion about somebody, versus just making up salacious, malicious stories. So, that’s actionable. So we ‘gon roll with that.”
