Tiffany Haddish 'deeply' regrets pedophile sketch at center of lawsuit: 'It wasn't funny at all'
Tiffany Haddish broke her silence about the onslaught of child abuse and harassment allegations at the center of a lawsuit filed against her and comedian Aries Spears.
Haddish and Spears are being sued by a 22-year-old unnamed woman in a Jane Doe lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse against her and her brother when they were minors. Haddish is also accused of negligent supervision/failure to warn, breach of fiduciary duty, and constructive fraud.
Reps for Haddish and Spears both deny the allegations.
Of the incidents mentioned, one involves a sketch called "Through a Pedophile's Eyes" that had been posted to Funny or Die. The lawsuit states Haddish recruited the plaintiff's brother, referred to in the complaint as John Doe, to perform in the sketch, which included Spears massaging John's back with baby oil, smoking a cigar while watching John take a bath in the nude, and other sexually suggestive acts.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images Tiffany Haddish 'deeply' regrets pedophile sketch at center of lawsuit
Haddish addresses this sketch in a statement she shared to Instagram Monday.
"I know people have a bunch of questions. I get it. I'm right there with you," Haddish said. "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."
Haddish's attorney Andrew Brettler said in a statement that the plaintiff "has 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," he said. "Now, [the plaintiff's mother] has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action."
Spears' lawyer Debra Opri said her client "isn't going to fall for any shakedown."
A representative for Funny or Die had said the sketch "Through a Pedophile's Eyes" had been uploaded to their site as user-generated content and they were not involved with its creation. Funny or Die found the video to be "absolutely disgusting" and removed it from the site in 2018 "immediately after becoming aware of its existence."
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