Jada Pinkett Smith is asking a judge to make Bilaal Salaam pay $49,181.23 in legal fees after she beat back his lawsuit, according to a motion filed April 20. The request comes after Salaam sued Pinkett Smith in December and sought $3 million in damages.
The filing says the amount covers reasonable attorneys' fees tied to Pinkett Smith’s successful special motion to strike Salaam’s complaint, along with additional fees and costs connected to the request. In court papers, Pinkett Smith said Salaam’s claims were not worth pursuing and asked for his case to be tossed in February.
Salaam’s lawsuit centered on allegations from September 2021, when he said he attended a private birthday party for Will Smith at the Regency Calabasas Commons and later encountered Pinkett Smith in a movie theater lobby. He claimed she arrived with about seven members of her entourage and threatened him if he kept “telling her personal business,” saying he would “end up missing or catch a bullet,” and he also alleged she pressured him to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
The feud spilled into public view in November 2023, when Salaam appeared on the “Unwine With Tasha K” podcast and alleged that he walked into Duane Martin’s dressing room and saw Will Smith in a sexual encounter with Martin. Pinkett Smith pushed back on “The Breakfast Club,” saying Salaam’s account was part of a broader “money shakedown” and dismissing the claims as “ridiculous and nonsense.” She added, “It’s not true and we’re going to take care of it,” and, “We’re about to take legal action.”
That legal action now has a price tag. Pinkett Smith argues Salaam should be responsible for her fees because she prevailed on her anti-SLAPP motion, and the court struck all allegations tied to media statements that formed the basis for her three causes of action, along with additional claims connected to a cease-and-desist letter. The latest request turns the dispute from a fight over reputation into a fight over who pays to keep it in court.