After being charged with molestation, Tiffany Haddish is making a statement.
On Tuesday, a Jane Doe, 22, represented herself and her younger brother John Doe, a child, in a lawsuit filed in California’s Superior Court for Los Angeles County against Haddish, 42, and comedian Aries Spears, 47. Jane claimed that Haddish “groomed” the plaintiffs, leaving them “traumatised for life,” in court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
The plaintiff asserted that Haddish was a “longtime family friend” of her mother and that, in 2013, when Jane Doe was 14 years old, Haddish took her to the filming of a “sexually suggestive Subways commercial,” which Haddish allegedly claimed would help the teen get on television and be featured in her film reel. Haddish allegedly showed Jane Doe how to engage in impermissible sex activities during the recording after watching a man and woman on a video.
Haddish posted a message on Instagram on Monday morning, saying, “I am aware that many people have inquiries. I got it. I’m with you all the way. Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can say at this time because there is an active legal case.”
“But while this routine was meant to be comedic, it wasn’t at all funny, and I regret having agreed to act in it greatly, she concluded. As soon as I can, I hope to be able to talk a lot more about this scenario.”
In 2014, after Haddish informed him he would be shooting a reel for Nickelodeon at Spears’ house, the plaintiff John Doe, according to the petition, was allegedly molested by Spears. There, Haddish allegedly told Jane Doe that she required John Doe’s privacy and led him to a room where Spears started “molesting” the boy, who was 7 at the time, on camera. According to court records filed by the plaintiffs, Haddish “aided, abetted and watched Spears sexually molested a youngster” during the alleged occurrence.
FilmMagic / Steve Granitz
In a statement, John Doe claimed that Spears and Haddish offered him a drink that gave him “happy face candy” and made him drowsy. He claimed that Haddish also gave the siblings $100.
The lawsuit stated that “There was no parent or guardian present” and that “The Plaintiffs were both juveniles and were incapable of consenting to engage in sexually graphic movies transmitted and disseminated on ‘Funny or Die’s’ platform.”
For intentional infliction of emotional distress, willful misconduct, sexual violence, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor, Haddish and Spears are being sued. Haddish is also accused of constructive fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent supervision and failure to warn.
Funny or Die stated to PEOPLE in a statement, “Funny Or Die would never create something like this since they thought it to be so revolting. We had no part in the ideation, creation, funding, or production of this video. It was added to the website as user-generated content and deleted in 2018 as soon as it was discovered.”
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In a statement regarding the case, Haddish’s attorney said that the plaintiff’s mother “has been making these false accusations against Ms. Haddish for a number of years. Every lawyer who initially took her case — and there were a number of them — ultimately dropped it once it was made obvious that the allegations were untrue and Ms. Haddish would not be blackmailed.”
The attorney added: “Currently, [the mother’s] adult daughter is acting pro se in this action. The results of doing this foolish move will be something that they both have to deal with.”
In a statement, Spears’ attorney added that his client “isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.”
Text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 if you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse to speak with a trained crisis counsellor.