Will Smith is being pulled deeper into his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s $3 million legal battle with his former friend Bilaal Salaam, who claims in newly filed court documents that the actor backed up Jada’s alleged threat to have him killed.
In the filing, first reported by TMZ, Salaam describes a phone call he says took place on or around October 5, 2021. He says Will, Jada, and Will’s longtime friend Charlie Mack were all on the line. According to Salaam, Jada told him she would have him killed if he kept moving forward with a planned memoir about his time with the Smith family. Salaam says he then asked Will Smith whether he heard what his wife said, and Will answered, “You heard what my wife said.”
Salaam says he told the couple that same month not to contact him again. He also claims Duane Martin called him in March 2022, after Will slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars, asking him to help with damage control. Salaam says he refused. He says he took the threats seriously because of the couple’s power and wealth.
This is not the first time Salaam has tried to put Will Smith in the middle of the case. In August, he filed a proposed amendment accusing Will of directly participating in several of the threats. In July, he asked for Will to sit for a deposition, which is sworn questioning under oath before trial. It has not been confirmed whether a judge has allowed Will to be added as a defendant.
Salaam’s original lawsuit centers on Will’s birthday celebration in September 2021. He claims Jada confronted him in the lobby of the Regency Calabasas Commons, and that she and seven members of her entourage told him he would “end up missing or catch a bullet” if he kept talking about her personal business. He says one of her associates followed him to his car while continuing to threaten him.
Jada has denied every allegation. She called the claims “nonsense” in an interview on The Breakfast Club and described the lawsuit as a “money shakedown.” In court filings, her team argued Salaam’s allegations were false, uncorroborated, and part of a public campaign of harassment against her family.
So far, the case has mostly gone Jada’s way. She filed an anti SLAPP motion, a California legal tool for throwing out lawsuits that target someone’s protected speech, and a judge tossed most of Salaam’s suit. In May, the court ordered Salaam to pay Jada $32,836 in attorney fees, and it later denied his request for a trial. Salaam, who is representing himself, has asked the court to reduce or restructure the payment, saying he cannot afford it.
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Salaam has also been pushing to question Jada under oath, claiming she refused to set a date for her deposition. Her team has argued she already sat for one in a separate legal proceeding he filed against her. A judge has not ruled on that request.
