The foundations of the Hollywood industry are partly made of gossip material. Without it, some stars probably would not have survived. A century after the first big stars emerged, gossip and rumors are still very much alive, to the point that some of these big names have become so nervous that they have not hesitated to verbalize harsh threats.
Such is the case of Jada Pinkett (54), wife of Will Smith (57) who, once again, finds herself at the center of scandal due to the $3 million lawsuit filed on November 7 by Bilaal Salaam, a close friend of the star of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
According to the lawsuit accessed by various American media outlets such as People, US Weekly, or Page Six, the actress and producer was so tired of the gossip Salaam was leaking to the press that she ended up going too far by intimidating and threatening him in the lobby of the Regency Calabasas Commons cinema in September 2021, where a private birthday party for Will Smith was taking place.
The document states that while Jada was surrounded by seven people from her entourage, she approached Salaam to shout that if he continued discussing personal matters he would "disappear or receive a bullet" and that Pinkett's entourage escorted him out of the venue to follow him to his car "while (Jada) continued issuing verbal threats". Additionally, Will Smith's wife - they separated six years ago but are not divorced - tried to force him to sign a confidentiality agreement "or else..."
What Bilaal Salaam could not have imagined was that, in late March 2022, the Smiths would want to hire him to try to rehabilitate the reputational damage that occurred during the 94th Academy Awards when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock (60) after he made a reference to Pinkett Smith's alopecia.
A tremendous scandal that led the organizers of the most prestigious film awards to ban the protagonist of The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and Ali (2001) from attending for a decade, films in which Salaam also appeared.
The offer was made by a friend of the couple, actor Duane Martin. Faced with this, Salaam explained in the lawsuit that he "refused to perform tasks he considered illegal, unethical, or morally compromising, stating that his conscience would not allow him to be involved in any cover-up or deceptive public relations campaign."
Allegedly, Martin told Salaam that he "would have serious problems with the accused Jada Pinkett Smith for refusing to help." The plaintiff also claims that he received threats from people close to the Smiths and that Jada, along with her team, orchestrated a "retaliation and defamation campaign" that caused him problems in the industry.
It has also been revealed that apparently Jada and Smith were so displeased with Salaam wanting to publish memoirs about the time he worked with them that they did not hesitate to unleash another series of threats.
Far from the war being over at that point, Pinkett and Salaam further fueled the fire with their statements on different podcasts. The former friend of Will Smith for four decades stated on Unwine With Tasha K in November 2023 that in the past he had caught Will Smith engaging in a sexual act with Duane Martin.
A representative of the Hollywood star responded that "this story is completely fabricated and the claim is unequivocally false". It is said that when Jada and Will heard that rumor, they could not help but laugh.
Subsequently, Jada addressed this comment a few days later on the podcast The Breakfast Club by stating the following: "Let me say this: it's ridiculous, right? And it's nonsense."