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Will Smith Accused of Sexual Harassment by Famous Male Violinist

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Image Credit: IMDb

Hollywood actor and musician Will Smith is facing a new legal challenge after professional violinist Brian King Joseph filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation.

According to court documents filed on Tuesday, December 30, at the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County, Joseph is suing Smith, 57, and his company, Treyball Studios Management, Inc. The lawsuit claims Smith engaged in inappropriate conduct while Joseph was part of the actor’s global concert tour, Based on a True Story: 2025.

Joseph, a Washington, D.C.-based violinist best known for finishing as a top-three finalist on America’s Got Talent season 13 in 2018, alleges that Smith began “grooming and priming” him for sexual exploitation after inviting him to join the tour in November 2024.

The complaint outlines what it describes as a “traumatic series of events” that allegedly occurred in March 2025 while the tour was in Las Vegas. Joseph claims he returned to his hotel room to find evidence that someone had entered without signs of forced entry.

According to the filing, the items allegedly discovered included a handwritten note that read, “Brian, I’ll be back… just us,” accompanied by a drawn heart and signed “Stone F,” as well as wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, an earring, hospital discharge paperwork belonging to an unknown individual, and a bottle of HIV medication bearing another person’s name.

Joseph alleges that the incident left him fearful that an unknown individual would return to his room to engage in sexual acts with him. After reporting the matter to hotel staff, a local non-emergency police line, and members of Smith’s management team, Joseph claims he was later confronted by a tour management representative who allegedly “shamed” him and informed him that his services were being terminated. The lawsuit further states that another violinist was hired to replace him on the tour.

Will Smith has strongly denied the allegations. In a statement issued on January 1, Smith’s attorney, Allen B. Grodsky, said the claims were “false, baseless, and reckless,” adding that they are “categorically denied” and that Smith intends to pursue all legal avenues to clear his name.

The lawsuit adds to recent legal scrutiny surrounding the Smith family. Earlier in December, a former associate, Bilaal Salaam, also known as Brother Bilaal, filed a separate $3 million lawsuit against Jada Pinkett Smith, alleging verbal threats. A source close to the family dismissed those claims, describing Salaam as “an opportunistic person out to exploit them.”

Smith’s Based on a True Story tour followed the March 2025 release of his album of the same name and ran from June to September 2025. The case filed by Joseph remains ongoing, and no court date has yet been announced.

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Festivals & Events

Compozers Fest Ghana Edition: Welcoming 2027 with Music in Accra

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Pitch Accra sets the scene for a New Year’s Eve gathering that brings music lovers together as Ghana welcomes the first moments of 2027.

As the final hours of 2026 slip away, Accra will offer music lovers another reason to gather, celebrate and welcome a new year together. Compozers Fest Ghana Edition is scheduled for December 31, 2026, bringing the festive energy of New Year’s Eve to Pitch Accra.

Organised by December in Ghana, an events organiser with a growing following, the celebration offers an opportunity to experience Accra’s nightlife during one of the busiest periods on Ghana’s social calendar.

Music, Community and Celebration

Music has long been central to Ghanaian social life, accompanying celebrations, festivals and gatherings across generations. From highlife and hiplife to Afrobeats and contemporary African sounds, the country’s musical landscape reflects a continuing conversation between tradition and modern influences.

A festival held on New Year’s Eve provides a natural meeting point for these musical cultures and the people who enjoy them.

For Ghanaians returning home for the festive season, it offers another opportunity to reconnect with the city’s entertainment scene. International visitors can experience Accra’s year-end atmosphere alongside residents and members of the diaspora.

Although detailed information about the festival’s performers and programme has not been announced in the supplied listing, the event is scheduled to begin at 10 pm and continue into January 1, 2027.

Making New Year’s Eve Memorable

The venue, Pitch Accra, will host the gathering on Accra Road, Accra. Tickets also come with a Visa card promotion: eligible purchases receive 15 per cent back, with the refund processed within three to five working days after the event. The organiser states that tickets are non-refundable.

For visitors planning a festive-season trip, Compozers Fest Ghana Edition offers another event to consider when exploring Accra after dark.

As 2026 draws to a close, the celebration promises a chance to gather with friends, enjoy the city’s nightlife and begin 2027 in the company of fellow music lovers.

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Arts and GH Heritage

When Second-Hand Clothes Become a Playground for Community

Using Broni Wawu garments purchased at a local market, Bamfo creates enclosed and open environments designed for participation rather than distant observation.

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In Atakpamé, Ghanaian artist Dr. Frederick Bamfo transforms discarded garments into interactive spaces where children, cultural memory and collective play meet.

A discarded shirt can carry more than the memory of a former owner. In the hands of Ghanaian artist and academic Dr. Frederick Bamfo, it can become part of a place where children gather, games begin and strangers find reasons to connect.

His installation, The Games Feast, developed during the Karp Artists’ and Researchers’ Residency in Atakpamé, Togo, gives second-hand clothing a new social life.

Using Broni Wawu garments purchased at a local market, Bamfo creates enclosed and open environments designed for participation rather than distant observation.

The choice of material speaks to a familiar West African reality. Second-hand clothing circulates through markets, connecting consumers to international trade networks while raising questions about consumption, waste and the afterlife of textiles.

Often valued primarily for their usefulness or affordability, these garments become something different in Bamfo’s work: vessels of memory and possibilities for human connection.

The installation’s defining feature, however, is not simply its reuse of clothing. It is what happens inside these improvised spaces.

Children help shape the project’s collaborative spirit, while games such as ludo and oware, alongside dancing and skipping, turn the artwork into a setting for shared experience.

These activities draw on familiar forms of play that have long helped communities build relationships and pass cultural knowledge between generations.

Here, they also challenge conventional ideas of an art installation as something to admire without touching or entering.

For Bamfo, the transformation is both material and social. Clothing once associated with individual bodies becomes a collective environment, while everyday games become tools for participation.

In Atakpamé, The Games Feast suggests that the most meaningful second life of a discarded garment may not be another wardrobe, but a space where people come together.

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Reels & Social Media Highlights

Ghana’s Digital Heartbeat: Outrage, Satire, and the Fight for Accountability

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Ghana’s social media space on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, felt less like a scrolling feed and more like a pressure cooker.

Between the crimson solidarity of #RedWednesday, the dust of a collapsing high-rise, and the astonishing unravelling of a political spokesperson, Ghanaians were simultaneously furious, entertained, and deeply skeptical.

The day’s emotional center was the Obuasi SHTS sexual abuse scandal. Activists declared “Red Wednesday,” urging citizens to wear red in solidarity with the alleged victims.

The mood turned from grief to rage when a leaked clip showed NDC communicator Daniel Nortey dismissing the allegations with the callous remark, “He’s a rapist, so what?”

The backlash was immediate and fierce, with figures like Nana Aba Anamoah condemning the comment, forcing Nortey into a swift, televised apology . Meanwhile, a very different kind of accountability played out in satire.

A viral video, amplified by Ashanti Regional Minister Frank Amoakohene, juxtaposed Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s past claims of completing the Pwalugu Dam against his recent promise to build it, using the “A few moments later” meme to devastating effect .

Amidst the politics, raw reality intruded. A video of concrete blocks raining down from the Villagio construction site in Accra sparked safety fears, but it was the cameraman’s subsequent claim that the company threatened him with “police and lawyers” that truly ignited the timeline.

Even the beach wasn’t safe from scrutiny: creator Ivy Prosper’s on-the-ground photos of a still-littered Labadi Beach exposed the polished, viral images of a “Miami-style” shoreline as misleading, triggering a wave of cynical “smoke and mirrors” commentary.

What united these disparate moments was a collective demand for transparency. Whether mocking a politician’s memory, calling out a spokesperson’s inhumanity, or fact-checking a pretty picture, Ghanaian netizens were not merely consuming content—they were actively auditing the world around them, one screenshot at a time.

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