How a sick 'Funny or Die' video came back to haunt Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A child sexual abuse lawsuit has been filed against Tiffany Haddish along with comedian Aries Spears accusing them of grooming a 14-year-old girl and her 7-year-old brother to do explicit skits for a 'Funny or Die' video. The siblings - Jane Doe, now 22, and her brother - allege in the lawsuit that the act, shot several years ago, “traumatized them for life.”
According to the legal documents obtained by TMZ, one video features Haddish teaching the underage girl how to mimic fellatio. The stand-up comedian and actress is also accused of taking the boy to a home where she and Spears molested him while filming a 'Funny or Die' video titled 'Through a Pedophiles Eyes.'
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According to DailyMail, the complainants' Jane and John Doe allege their mother was friends with Haddish. Later, Haddish recruited them to participate in the videos. Jane further stated that she agreed to partake in a video in which Spears asked her to mimic a video of women eating a sub-sandwich in a suggestive manner, noises and all. However, when Jane could not perform exactly the way Spears wanted it and said Haddish then joined in and instructed her 'how to give fellatio, including movements, noises, moaning, and groaning,'
Meanwhile, in a statement to TMZ, 'Funny or Die' stated, "Funny Or Die found this video absolutely disgusting and would never produce such content. We were not involved with the conceptualization, development, funding, or production of this video. It was uploaded to the site as user-generated content and was removed in 2018 immediately after becoming aware of its existence."
Haddish, on the other hand, posted a statement to her Instagram account on Monday, September 5, where she wrote "I know people have a bunch of questions. 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 'Girl Trip' actress revealed she regrets being a part of the sketch in her Instagram post.
Tiffany's attorney, Andrew Brettler stated, "Plaintiff's mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years." Brettler then explains, "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."
The siblings who are suing Haddish and Spears claim that they have developed 'social disorders' due to the resulting trauma. One of them claims that he is afraid of being watched or recorded to the extent that he puts "band-aids" over all the cameras on his electronics. On the other hand, his sister says her trauma has prevented her from dating as she is too scared to be taken advantage of and "led down a path of false trust like the path that Haddish led her down." The siblings also alleged that their mother had tried to reach a $15,000 settlement with Spears over the video.