Who is Trizah Morris? Tiffany Haddish's former friend files $1M lawsuit against actress over extortion claims
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Another lawsuit has been filed against Tiffany Haddish and comedian Aries Spears. According to court records obtained by Radar Online, Trizah Morris, an ex-friend of the 'Like a Boss' actress, said that the two made false accusations about her that cost her personally, financially and professionally.
This most recent court petition comes about a year after Morris' adult children attempted to sue Haddish and Spears for allegedly grooming them when they were minors to "perform in, film, record, publish and distribute sexually inappropriate" humorous content. Spears and Haddish have denied these allegations.
Who is Trizah Morris?
Haddish's former friend, Morris, filed a $1M defamation lawsuit against the actress and Spears, accusing the duo of making false statements about her that caused her to suffer personally. The report also said that one of the skits that her (Morris') children took part in featured one of the youngsters acting out a sexual act, and another featured jokes about pedophiles. A report in Hollywood Unlocked claims that Morris "at one point actually got paid for the skits". However, Morris refused this outright to MEAWW saying she never received any payments for the controversial skits.
The report also claimed that Morris had approached Haddish following the actress' success in 'Girls Trip' and started asking for help with her comedic career. Morris, however, insisted that she "never pleaded for assistance for her comic career". In response to this claim, she says,"I never had a comic career. I have several friends that are comedians and invite me to do their shows occasionally because I tell funny stories and I can handle a crowd. I have an entire life far from telling jokes. I like to be entertained, not be the entertainment."
The Hollywood Unlocked report also claims that Morris went public with the video after Haddish herself told her to. Morris disputed these claims in her email response to MEAWW that she "never knew about the video until June 2018 and that 'Girls Trip' came out in 2016," claiming, "I was contacted by Tiffany Haddish's management team to perform.I never asked to be booked she had her team reach out and booked me."
Morris had even claimed that the entertainers were defaming her when they both accused her of trying to extort them for money. In her suit, Morris states that despite the public statements by the comedians, the alleged extortion was never reported to any authorities. In 2022, after the first case was filed, the 43-year-old actress's lawyer reportedly told TMZ at the time, "Plaintiff's mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years. 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."
'The media isn't talking about it right now'
Spears and Haddish have vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and the lawsuit was dropped in September 2022. In her latest lawsuit, Morris asserted that the comedians' representatives have since made a number of disparaging remarks about her, including that she had been allegedly attempting to blackmail them. Morris claimed that Spears also referred to her as a "lying b***h."
In February 2023, according to court records, Morris allegedly contacted Haddish and Spears' lawyers to ask them to issue a statement to clarify that she did not extort them. However, Morris claims the actress called her up personally in March and downplayed the situation, according to OK! "The media isn’t talking about it right now," Haddish allegedly said to her via phone, adding, "I have four movies coming out this year and I am going to be doing a lot of press. If it comes up, I’ll be sure to mention it."
Furthermore, Morris has also stated that a reporter got in touch with her in late June 2023 and accused Haddish of disparaging her in a recent interview. She also claimed that the entire incident damaged her reputation and made her anxious and so she was suing the actress and comedian for $1M.