Jada Pinkett Smith is asking a judge to order a former friend of Will Smith to turn over discovery he claims supports his lawsuit demand for $3 million from the actress and talk show host, including recordings of threatening phone calls he claims to have received from her intermediaries.
Plaintiff Bilaal Salaam’s Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit stems from his allegations that Pinkett-Smith was upset that Salaam refused to do some crisis management following the 94th Academy Awards when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage. Salaam further alleges that he received threats after Pinkett Smith learned that he planned to publish a memoir talking about her personal business.
Salaam filed the lawsuit last Nov. 7 and it was pared through a judge’s partial granting of Pinkett Smith’s anti-SLAPP motion on April 13. The surviving claims concern Pinkett Smith’s alleged threats, coercion and intimidation of Salaam through intermediaries. Salaam alleges that as a result he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, gained some 100 pounds and developed high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
On Wednesday, attorneys for Pinkett Smith, 54, filed court papers with Judge Eric Harmon noting that she had previously sought the recordings of the telephone calls allegedly made to Salaam on her behalf from intermediaries. Her lawyers say the recordings are essential given that Salaam places them at the center of his claims and the medical records supporting the physical and emotional injuries for which he seeks millions of dollars in damages.
But do date, Salaam has not agreed to produce the recordings or demonstrated they actually exist and he refuses to state whether he will produce medical records supporting his claims of physical and emotional injuries, Pinkett Smith’s attorneys state in their court papers.
“Plaintiff has had ample time to determine whether responsive recordings exist, and if they do, plaintiff must say so, and produce them,” Pinkett Smith’s lawyers contend in their pleadings.
If the recordings do not exist, Salaam must say so and he “cannot simply leave the issue unresolved indefinitely,” Pinkett Smith’s attorneys state in their court papers while adding that Salaam has refused to produce his medical records supporting his medical claims and simply said he “reserves all rights.”
Salaam alleges that one of the threatening calls came from a talent manager in November 2023 who said he was calling on behalf of Pinkett Smith and told the plaintiff to “end this feud before you get physically hurt.”
The talent manager also allegedly told Salaam that continued media disclosures or release of his memoir would put Plaintiff in serious danger.
A hearing on Pinkett Smith’s motion is scheduled Nov. 7.