Entertainment

Jada Pinkett Smith Wins Legal Fees After Oscars Slap Lawsuit Dismissed

By Erica Coleman · May 20, 2026

Bilaal Salaam’s lawsuit against Jada Pinkett Smith started as a claim for emotional distress. It ended with a judge ordering him to pay Jada’s attorneys’ fees.

A Los Angeles County judge has ordered Salaam to pay $32,836 to cover Jada Pinkett Smith’s legal costs after his lawsuit was dismissed. The order was signed this week.

Salaam had filed suit alleging that he suffered emotional harm after being pulled into Will Smith’s efforts to manage the fallout from the 2022 Oscars slap. His claim was that Jada and Will’s damage control operation after Will struck Chris Rock at the Academy Awards — on live television, in front of the world — involved Salaam in ways that caused him psychological distress he deserved to be compensated for.

The judge disagreed. The case was dismissed. And now Salaam is responsible for the legal bills Jada incurred defending against it.

The ruling closes one chapter in the sprawling legal universe that has grown up around a moment that lasted approximately three seconds on March 27, 2022. The slap itself. The resignation from the Academy. The apology. The memoir. And now, nearly four years later, a court ordering one man to pay Jada’s attorneys for the privilege of suing her.

The Oscars slap’s legal consequences are not fully resolved. Will Smith is separately navigating an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit in which a judge ruled last week that the plaintiff had 30 days to amend her complaint after the most serious claim was dismissed under California’s AB 2777 law. That case continues.

Jada, for her part, has been largely out of the public eye since publishing her memoir “Worth It” in 2023. She and Will confirmed a marital separation in 2023 that had reportedly been in place since 2016. She has not commented publicly on Tuesday’s ruling.