“We are happy that we can put this all behind us and wish Tiffany the best.”
The unnamed plaintiff who accused Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears of grooming and molestation of her and her younger brother during sexually explicit comedic sketches has dismissed her claim.
Haddish asked a federal judge in the US District Court for Central California on Tuesday to dismiss her complaint with prejudice, which means it cannot be brought again, according to a notice of dismissal shared with BuzzFeed News by the plaintiff’s counsel.
In a statement to TMZ and Deadline, the plaintiff, who is only identified as Jane Doe in the case, said that she and her family have known Tiffany Haddish for many years and are confident that she would never intentionally injure her or her brother or assist anybody else in doing so.
The plaintiff, who left out Britney Spears from her statement, stated, “We wish Tiffany the best and are delighted that we can put this all behind us.”
The two unnamed plaintiffs in the initial case, which was filed at the end of August, claimed that the comedians had solicited them to engage in sexually explicit activities for comedy sketches that were shot in 2013 and 2014.
According to the initial lawsuit, the plaintiffs, who are the offspring of one of Haddish’s former pals, were 7 and 14 years old at the time of the alleged incidents.
Haddish and Spears were charged with intentional infliction of emotional distress, willful misconduct, negligent supervision, violation of fiduciary responsibility, constructive fraud, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor in the initial complaint against them.
Haddish’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, refuted the claims in a statement issued to BuzzFeed News shortly after the case was filed:
These false accusations against Ms. Haddish have been made by the plaintiff’s mother 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. 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.
(BuzzFeed News withheld the mother’s identity in order to respect the plaintiffs’ right to privacy.)
According to the initial allegation, Haddish brought Jane Doe, who was 14 at the time, to a Hollywood studio to record a “sexually suggestive” video. The suit claimed that the comedians made the child view a video of several women eating sandwiches while “moaning and making sexual noises while they both ate the sandwich in a way that imitated the act of fellatio.”
The complaint claimed that Spears instructed Jane Doe to imitate everything she had seen on the screen at that point, “exactly the noises she had heard throughout the film.” After that, Haddish is said to have demonstrated fellatio to Jane Doe, “with movements, noises, moaning and groaning.”
According to the lawsuit, Haddish gave her $100 and sent her home.
Haddish contacted the mother about recording another video with her son John Doe, age 7, a year later, in 2014. “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes,” a comedic sketch, was featured in the video.
According to the lawsuit, Spears is shown in the video “lusting over the 7-year-old youngster and abusing him throughout the film” and has stripped John “down to his underwear.” Additionally, the plaintiffs claimed that Haddish was there while the video was being filmed.
Haddish herself responded to the lawsuit on Instagram, saying she regretted taking part in the videos.
“I am aware that many individuals 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, “Haddish uttered. But while it’s evident that this sketch was meant to be humorous, I regret having agreed to act in it because it wasn’t at all funny.
