Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears are accused of coercing a 14-year-old girl and her 7-year-old brother to film explicit skits, glamsquad reports.
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The siblings, identified in the legal documents as Jane Doe, now 22, and John Doe, now 14, are suing the comedians. Jane, who also serves as John’s legal guardian, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit both individually and on behalf of her minor brother.
Their mother claims that she and Haddish, 42, met through comedy and formed a close friendship while going through divorces.
“We were both going through a divorce,” the mother explained to The Daily Beast, which broke the story first. “Messy, messy, messy, messy, messy divorces… We just got really, really, really close.”
Haddish allegedly called the family “every birthday and every Christmas,” according to the lawsuit.
Haddish appeared as a guest speaker at a summer camp attended by 14-year-old Jane in 2013, the same year she divorced William Stewart after five years of marriage.
Around the same time, Haddish allegedly told Jane that she’d found “the perfect role” for the teen in her own commercial. According to the suit, neither Jane nor her mother were aware of the shoot’s details, whereas Haddish and Spears, both 47, were said to be aware of the plot.
Haddish allegedly taught Jane how to imitate fellatio for a skit about kids arguing over a sub sandwich during the shoot.
“I tried to mimic what they wanted me to mimic, but it just came out super uncomfortable,” Jane explained to The Daily Beast. “I knew I didn’t finish what they wanted me to do when I left the booth.”
According to the lawsuit, Haddish paid Jane $100 before sending her home.
According to Jane, she did not initially inform her mother about the alleged incident.
“I didn’t tell anyone else about how strange I felt at the time,” she explained.
A year later, Haddish allegedly contacted the siblings’ mother to express her interest in the younger brother, John, for a Nickelodeon sizzle reel.
According to the lawsuit, Haddish and Spears molested the 7-year-old while filming “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes,” a disturbing video that was published on Funny Or Die and other online platforms.
In a statement, a representative for Funny or Die said, “Funny Or Die found this video absolutely disgusting and would never produce such content.” We had no involvement in the creation, development, funding, or production of this video. It was uploaded to the site as user-generated content and was removed in 2018 as soon as its existence was discovered.”
Spears’ attorney, Debra Opri, told Page Six, “He isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.”
Andrew Brettler, Haddish’s attorney, called the lawsuit an extortion attempt.
“Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying for several years to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish,” he told Page Six.
“Every attorney who initially took on her case, and there were several,” Brettler continued, “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. They will have to face the consequences of their frivolous action together.”
Both siblings claim to have suffered from crippling social disorders.
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According to the siblings, their mother attempted to reach a $15,000 settlement with Spears over the alleged molestation video.
Haddish and Spears are being sued for general and special damages, as well as “any appropriate statutory damages.”
