Child sexual abuse claims against Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears dismissed

Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears
Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears
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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Cindy Ord/Getty Images Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears

The Jane Doe lawsuit accusing comedians Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears of forcing a woman and her brother to separately perform inappropriate, sexually suggestive acts on camera when they were minors has been dismissed, according to a filing provided by the defendants' lawyer.

EW has confirmed that the pseudonymous plaintiff asked a judge to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. In a statement obtained by TMZ, which first reported the news, the plaintiff said, "My family and I have known Tiffany Haddish for many years — and we now know that she would never harm me or my brother or help anyone else do anything that could harm us. We wish Tiffany the best and are glad that we can all put this behind us."

EW has reached out to the plaintiff, Haddish, and Spears for comment.

In a complaint filed last month, the 22-year-old plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, accused Haddish (Girls Trip) and Spears (Mad TV) of intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor, claiming that the comedians made her and her brother film sexually themed comedy sketches when they were underage. The incidents were alleged to have occurred when Jane was 14 and her brother, identified as John Doe, was 7.

Representatives for Haddish and Spears quickly denied the allegations. Haddish's attorney Andrew Brettler said in a statement to EW that the plaintiff's mother had "been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years. 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."

Spears' attorney Debra Opri similarly said that her client wasn't "going to fall for any shakedown."

The complaint described two sketches that the siblings had alleged they were made to participate in, one of which was said to have been titled "Through a Pedophile's Eyes" and posted on the website Funny or Die before being taken down. The complaint charged that Spears played a pedophile in the sketch, which allegedly included him massaging baby oil onto John's back and observing the boy nude in the bathtub while smoking a cigarette, among other sexually suggestive acts. After the shoot ended, John "called his mother crying, saying he did not want to film anymore," the complaint claimed.

A few days after the suit made headlines, Haddish said she deeply regretted the sketches in a statement posted on social media. "I know people have a bunch of questions," she wrote. "I get it. I'm right there with you. Unfortunately, because there is an ongoing legal case, there's very little that I can say right now. But, clearly, while this sketch was intended to be comedic, it wasn't funny at all — and I deeply regret having agreed to act in it. I really look forward to being able to share a lot more about this situation as soon as I can."

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