Last Tuesday, a 22-year-old woman identified as Jane Doe sued actress Tiffany Haddish, 42, and comedian Aries Spears, 47. The plaintiff filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and her young brother, who is a minor, identified as John Doe.
In the court documents, Jane alleged that Haddish “groomed” the plaintiffs, leaving them “traumatized for life.”
Haddish’s representative said the claims were bogus, and now Haddish is breaking her silence.
The plaintiff claimed that Haddish was a “longtime family friend” of her mother and that in 2013, when Jane Doe was 14, Haddish took her to the taping of a “sexually suggestive Subways commercial” that Haddish allegedly said would help Jane Doe get on television and would be included in the teenager’s film reel. During the taping, Haddish allegedly instructed Jane Doe on how to perform inappropriate sex acts after watching a man and woman in a video.
Per the filing, plaintiff John Doe was allegedly molested by Spears in 2014 after Haddish told him he would be taping a reel for Nickelodeon at Spears’ home. While there, Haddish allegedly told Jane Doe that she needed John Doe alone and took him to a room where Spears began “molesting” the then-7-year-old on film. The plaintiffs’ court documents claim Haddish witnessed the alleged incident “and aided, abetted and watched Spears sexually molest a child.”
John Doe said in a statement that Spears and Haddish gave him a drink that made him sleepy and “happy face candy.” Haddish also allegedly paid the siblings $100, he said.
The Plaintiffs were both minors and were incapable of consenting to participate in sexually graphic videos distributed and published via ‘Funny or Die’s’ platform,” the lawsuit said, adding: “There was no parent or guardian present.”
Haddish and Spears are being sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor. Haddish is also sued for negligence supervision/failure to warn, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Funny or Die said, “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.”
Spears’ lawyer also said in a statement that he “isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.”
