According to court documents obtained by The Daily Beast, the two comedians are being accused of grooming a 14-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother.
Tiffany Haddish and Ari Spears are being sued by the siblings, now aged 22 and 14. They were identified as anonymous pseudonyms Jane Doe and John Doe in the legal documents.
Jane is the plaintiff both individually and on behalf of her younger brother. The lawsuit alleged that Haddish, “a longtime family friend” of the siblings’ mother, approached Jane in 2013 for “a perfect role” in a commercial.
According to the suit, neither Jane nor her mother was aware of the commercial’s plot, but Haddish and Spears were. The shoot for the commercial allegedly involved Haddish teaching Jane how to mimic f####### while eating a sandwich.
One year later, Haddish allegedly reached out to the siblings’ mother to enlist John for a Nickelodeon sizzle reel.
The suit claimed that the then-seven-year-old was molested by Haddish and Spears for a skit posted on Funny or Die titled “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes.”
The comedians are being sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor. The accusers seek a reward for “past, present, and future general damages.”
Fans of both comedians have been dogging them out on social media, because neither of them have yet to directly address the heineous allegations.
Lawyers for Haddish and Spears called the legal action a “shakedown.”
“Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years,” the actress’ lawyer Andrew Brettler said in a statement. “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.”
Reps for Funny or Die called the video uploaded to their platform “absolutely disgusting” and insisted they would never produce such content.
It was removed in 2018 as soon as they became “aware of its existence.”
