Will Smith's Former Friend Seeks Jada Deposition

A legal battle involving Will Smith's former friend continues to escalate as Bilaal Salaam seeks court intervention to compel Jada Pinkett Smith to answer questions under oath about alleged threats made against him.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Bilaal Salaam, who is suing Jada Pinkett Smith, has filed a motion asking a judge to order the actress to appear for a deposition within 30 days. Salaam claims he scheduled a deposition date of May 20, but Pinkett Smith did not appear for the session.

The former Smith family associate stated in his filing that he wants to question Pinkett Smith regarding communications she had about him and any communications she made authorizing threats against him. The dispute traces back to the aftermath of the March 27, 2022 Academy Awards ceremony, where Will Smith infamously slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage.

Salaam alleges that Pinkett Smith became upset after he refused to assist Will Smith in managing the fallout from the slapping incident. He further claims that she arranged for third parties to threaten him after learning of his plans to write a memoir that would discuss the Smith family.

Pinkett Smith has denied the allegations and previously succeeded in having the majority of the lawsuit dismissed. Despite these legal victories, Salaam maintains that her testimony is crucial to proving his remaining claims.

The actress's legal team is pushing back against the deposition request. According to a legal letter included in Salaam's filing, Pinkett Smith's attorneys argue that she already sat for a deposition in a separate legal proceeding that Salaam filed against her. Because the current lawsuit covers many of the same issues, her legal team contends that any additional questioning should be limited to one hour of her time rather than a full deposition.

The disagreement highlights a common tension in civil litigation: plaintiffs seeking comprehensive testimony to build their case versus defendants attempting to limit their exposure to repeated questioning on similar matters. A judge has not yet ruled on Salaam's motion to compel the deposition.

The legal dispute represents one of several complications that have emerged for the Smith family following the 2022 Oscars incident, which resulted in Will Smith being banned from Academy events for ten years. The actor publicly apologized for his actions, but the reverberations from that evening continue to surface in various forms, including this ongoing litigation with his former associate.