Tiffany Haddish has made her first public statement after a child abuse lawsuit was filed against her and comedian Aries Spears.
Last Tuesday, the pair were accused of grooming and molesting two underage children for a Funny or Die sketch in 2013. A 22-year-old woman claimed the pair coerced her at the age of 14 to take part in sexually explicit skits in separate incidents. The woman adds that her 7-year-old brother was taken to a home where the sketch, titled “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes,” was filmed.
The two plaintiffs, identified in the suit as Jane and John Doe, have sued the two comedians for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor, with Haddish additionally facing charges of negligence supervision/failure to warn, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud.
“The Plaintiffs were both minors and were incapable of consenting to participate in sexually graphic videos distributed and published via ‘Funny or Die’s’ platform,” the lawsuit said.
“There was no parent or guardian present.”
Haddish’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, has dismissed the lawsuit as an attempt to extort money from his client.
“Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years,” Brettler said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “Every attorney who has initially taken on her case—and there were several—ultimately dropped the matter once it became clear that the claims were meritless and Ms. Haddish would not be shaken down. Now, Ms. Morris has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”
Haddish took to Instagram on Monday to break her silence on the lawsuit.
“I know people have a bunch of questions,” she wrote.
“I get it. I’m right there with you. Unfortunately, because there is an ongoing legal case, there’s very little that I can say right now. But, clearly, while this sketch was intended to be comedic, it wasn’t funny at all – and I deeply regret having agreed to act in it. I really look forward to being able to share a lot more about this situation as soon as I can.”
