Associate Sues Jada Pinkett Smith for $3M Over Threats

Bilaal Salaam, a longtime associate of actor Will Smith, has filed a $3 million lawsuit against Jada Pinkett Smith, alleging she threatened him with physical harm during a private birthday celebration for her husband in California in September 2021 and later orchestrated a campaign of retaliation that damaged his career and health.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Pinkett Smith of intentional infliction of emotional distress through three separate instances of what Salaam describes as extreme and outrageous conduct. Salaam, who claims to have been Smith's close friend for nearly four decades and is mentioned in Smith's 2021 memoir, seeks compensatory damages, punitive awards and a public retraction of statements he says defamed him.

According to the court filing, the initial confrontation occurred on September 25, 2021, at the Regency Calabasas Commons during Smith's 53rd birthday event. Salaam alleges that Pinkett Smith approached him in the lobby accompanied by about seven members of her entourage. She became verbally aggressive, the suit claims, and warned that if he continued sharing details of her personal life, he would "end up missing or catch a...