A new US$3mil (RM12.36mil) lawsuit accuses Jada Pinkett Smith of warning Will Smith’s alleged friend that he’d “catch a bullet” if he kept sharing her “personal business.”
Bilaal Salaam is suing the Red Table Talk host and executive producer, 54, for US$3mil due to alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress, as he accuses Pinkett Smith and “her emissaries” of attempting to “bribe, intimidate and suppress” him, according to the filing obtained Monday by People.
Salaam, also known as Brother Bilaal, claims he suffered “the complete derailment of his personal life and career,” including financial loss, reputational harm, emotional distress and health issues.
Per the filing, Pinkett Smith “became verbally aggressive” with Salaam – Will Smith’s “best friend” of “nearly 40 years” – during a private birthday party for the Hitch star, 57, in September 2021, shortly before he won his first Oscar in early 2022.
Pinkett Smith was flanked by “approximately seven members of her entourage” when she allegedly told Salaam “that if he continued ‘telling her personal business’ he would ‘end up missing or catch a bullet,'” according to the lawsuit.
The Gotham star allegedly “demanded” Smith’s alleged former assistant sign a nondisclosure agreement, “or else,” according to People.
Salaam claims the actors’ associates launched a “retaliatory campaign” after he “refused to perform tasks he believed were illegal, unethical, or morally compromising” as part of public relations damage control after Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. The lawsuit says the alleged threats intensified once the Smiths got word of the “whistleblower memoir” Salaam was writing about them.
The following year, Salaam claimed he’d once witnessed Smith and actor Duane Martin having sex, which Pinkett Smith dismissed as “ridiculous” and “nonsense.” A rep for Smith at the time also slammed Salaam’s account as “unequivocally false,” and said the actor was considering legal action against him.
Salaam’s legal filing alleges that Pinkett Smith instead “intentionally and maliciously engaged in a smear campaign through nationally broadcast interviews,” including one in which she accused him of trying to “shake down” the couple.
Also in 2023, Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Smith had been separated for six years up until the night of The Slap and were “still figuring … out” their marriage afterwards.
The Daily News has reached out to representatives for Pinkett Smith and Smith for comment. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
