Tiffany Haddish has spoken out in response to the child sexual abuse lawsuit filed against her and comedian Aries Spears.
“I know people have a lot of questions. I understand. I’m right there with you,” Haddish wrote on Instagram. “Unfortunately, because there is a legal case going on, there is very little I can say at this time. But, clearly, while this skit was meant to be comedic, it wasn’t funny at all — and I deeply regret agreeing to act in it. I really look forward to being able to share much more about this situation as soon as possible.”
Filed last week by an anonymous woman, the lawsuit alleges Haddish and Spears exploited Jane Doe, now 22, and her brother John Doe, now 14, in two comedy skits filmed when they were children.
In a clip titled “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes,” Spears’ character plays a pedophile who lusts after John Doe, who was 7 at the time, according to the lawsuit. Haddish plays the boy’s mother, who leaves her child with the man. According to The Daily Beast, “John [Doe] he spends most of the video dressed only in his underwear as Spears’ character sneaks up on him through two holes cut in a newspaper he’s pretending to read. During the sketch, the camera zooms in suggestively on the 7-year-old’s buttocks and crotch as he plays. Spears sprays baby oil on the child’s back and massages his shoulders in one scene, and in another the child plays with a train in a way that suggests phallic masturbation. In another sequence, Spears smokes a cigarette while observing the child naked in a bathtub and pours water on his feet.
The video ends with text saying: “Be careful who you leave your children with.” Funny or Die, where Spears originally uploaded the video, removed the clip in 2018 and told the Daily Beast it was “absolutely disgusting.”
Haddish’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, said in a statement to Vanity Fair that the plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, “has been trying to pursue these false allegations against Ms. Haddish for several years.”
Brettler continued: “Every lawyer who initially took on her case – and there were quite a few – eventually dropped the matter once it became clear that the claims were unfounded and Ms. Haddish would not budge. Now, Ms. Morris has her grown daughter representing herself in this trial. The two of them together will face the consequences of continuing this reckless action.”
Read Haddish’s statement below:
