Tiffany Haddish is speaking out after being accused of grooming and molesting two underage children for a Funny or Die sketch in 2013.
Earlier this month, Haddish and comedian Aries Spears were sued by a 22-year-old woman who claims the pair coerced her, at the age of 14, to take part in sexually explicit skits in separate incidents. The girl claims her 7-year-old brother was taken to a home where the sketch, titled “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes,” was filmed. He was also allegedly molested by Haddish and Spears.
Haddish took to Instagram on Monday to address 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.”
The two plaintiffs, identified in the suit as Jane and John Doe, allege they’ve developed social disorders stemming from their encounters with Haddish and Spears. The two comedians have been sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor, with Haddish also 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 attorney, Andrew Brettler, has dismissed the lawsuit, which was filed last Tuesday in California’s Superior Court for Los Angeles County, 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 sent to Complex. “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.”
