Bilaal Salaam’s $3M Lawsuit Against Jada: Anti-SLAPP and Fee Award

Bilaal Salaam’s lawsuit against Jada Pinkett Smith, filed in November 2025 seeking $3 million for emotional distress, has been largely gutted. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge granted Pinkett Smith’s anti-SLAPP motion, struck the claims tied to her public statements and to a cease-and-desist letter from the Smiths’ attorneys, and on May 18, 2026, ordered Salaam to pay $32,836 in her legal fees.¹

Who Filed the Lawsuit

Salaam, who goes by “Brother Bilaal,” has described himself as Will Smith’s best friend of nearly 40 years, and Smith included photos of him in his 2021 memoir Will.² Some outlets have called him a former assistant; his own filings frame the relationship as a close personal friendship.³

What the Complaint Alleged

Salaam filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court in November 2025, with the case assigned to Judge Eric Harmon at the Van Nuys Courthouse West.⁴ The complaint sought $3 million and rested on three main threads.

The centerpiece was an alleged confrontation on September 25, 2021. Salaam claimed he attended a private birthday celebration for Will Smith at the Regency Calabasas Commons and that Pinkett Smith approached him in the lobby with an entourage of about seven people. According to the complaint, she became “verbally aggressive” and told him he would “end up missing or catch a bullet” if he continued “telling her personal business.” He also alleged she demanded he sign a nondisclosure agreement “or else,” and that members of her group followed him to his car.⁵

Salaam also alleged a retaliatory “smear campaign,” which he tied to his refusal to help with “crisis management” after the 2022 Academy Awards incident and to word that he was writing a “whistleblower memoir” about his time with the family.³ Nothing in the public record indicates the memoir was ever published or formally announced.⁶ The third thread was a cease-and-desist letter Salaam said the Smiths’ attorneys sent him, which he characterized as further evidence of an effort to silence him.⁷

The suit did not arise from Pinkett Smith’s 2023 memoir Worthy. It pointed instead to her November 2023 appearance on Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club and her statement to TMZ as the basis for the alleged media campaign against him.⁸

The Podcast Claims Behind the Feud

The dispute traces back to November 2023, when Salaam appeared on Unwine With Tasha K and alleged he had walked into actor Duane Martin’s dressing room on a film set and witnessed Will Smith engaged in a sexual encounter with Martin.⁹ He also made disparaging claims about Pinkett Smith.¹⁰

A representative for Will Smith called the story “completely fabricated” and “unequivocally false.”¹¹ On The Breakfast Club, Pinkett Smith called the claims “ridiculous” and “nonsense” and described the situation as a “money shakedown,” saying Salaam had worked with Will Smith on a book project, sought compensation, and rejected what was offered: “Will was willing to give him a certain amount, and he didn’t take it. So, this whole situation is based on that.”¹² Asked separately by TMZ about the allegations, she said, “We suin’!”¹³

How the Anti-SLAPP Motion Ended the Core Claims

Pinkett Smith did not countersue. In February 2026, she moved to strike the case under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which lets defendants fast-track dismissal of lawsuits that target constitutionally protected speech or petitioning activity. Once a defendant shows the claims arise from protected activity, the plaintiff must show a probability of prevailing; if he can’t, the claims are struck and the defendant recovers legal fees.¹⁴

Her motion made two arguments the court accepted. Her Breakfast Club and TMZ statements were speech on a matter of public interest. And the cease-and-desist letter was “confidential legal correspondence sent by counsel in anticipation of litigation,” a category courts treat as protected pre-litigation activity.⁷ The filing also called Salaam’s broader allegations “false, uncorroborated, and made to generate attention as part of an ongoing public campaign of harassment directed at Defendant and her family.”¹⁵ An April 2026 filing reflected that the judge struck the media-statement allegations underpinning Salaam’s causes of action and the cease-and-desist allegations as well.¹⁰

The Fee Award and What Is Left of the Case

On April 20, 2026, Pinkett Smith moved for $49,181.23 in attorneys’ fees.¹⁰ On May 18, 2026, the judge awarded $32,836, applying a 15 percent reduction after finding that some of her attorneys billed at unusually high hourly rates and spent excessive time on motions given their experience. The court rejected Salaam’s argument that he could not afford to pay.¹

The case is not fully closed. The court denied Salaam’s request for an immediate trial and ordered both sides to a case management conference set for August 19, 2026.¹⁶ As of mid-2026, no appeal of the anti-SLAPP ruling or the fee award has been publicly reported.¹

1
Complex. Jada Pinkett Smith Legal Fees Will Smith Friend
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People. Jada Pinkett Smith Told Husband Will Smith Friend He Would Catch a Bullet if He Continued Telling Her Personal Business, Lawsuit Claims
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BET. Jada Pinkett Smith Sued for $3 Million by Will Smith’s Former Associate
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UniCourt. Bilaal Salaam vs. Jada Pinkett Smith
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People. Jada Pinkett Smith Told Husband Will Smith Friend He Would Catch a Bullet, Lawsuit Claims
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New York Daily News. Jada Pinkett Smith Lawsuit by Will Smith Friend Brother Bilaal Salaam
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People. Jada Pinkett Smith Secures Over $30K in Legal Fees From Will Smith’s Ex-Friend in Court Battle
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Entertainment Weekly. Will Smith Alleged Friend Claims Jada Pinkett Smith Threatened He’d Catch a Bullet
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Page Six. Jada Pinkett Smith Fires Back at Claims She Threatened Will Smith’s Friend
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Los Angeles Times. Jada Pinkett Smith Asks Court for Bilaal Salaam to Pay Legal Bills
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TMZ. Will Smith Denies Sex With Duane Martin
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People. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith Deny Claims He Slept With Duane Martin
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New York Daily News. Will Smith Denies Sex With Duane Martin, Threatens Lawsuit
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San Francisco Bar Association. California’s Anti-SLAPP Law
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Atlanta Black Star. Jada Pinkett Smith Changes Her Tune Against Man Who Made Claims About Her Husband and Duane Martin
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Entertainment Weekly. Will Smith Alleged Friend Claims Jada Pinkett Smith Threatened He’d Catch a Bullet