Comedians Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears are in hot water after problematic videos involving minors allegedly left the underaged siblings traumatized.
Haddish and Spears are accused of child sex abuse crimes by the siblings in a new lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast.
Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in late August, the case relates sexually explicit skits the siblings allege they were coerced into filming with the comics in 2013.
The lawsuit was filed anonymously under Jane Doe, now an adult, on behalf of herself and her brother, John Doe, who is still a minor.
The lawsuit alleges that Haddish — a former friend of the siblings’ mother — pitched the first sketch as the “perfect role” for Jane.
Jane claims Haddish asked her to watch a clip of women “moaning and making sexual noises as they both ate [a] sandwich in a manner that simulated the act of fellatio.”
The filing alleges Spears and Haddish asked the then-14-year-old to mimic the video — making the child very uncomfortable.
“Haddish verbally explained what was expected of Plaintiff Jane Doe,” stated the lawsuit. “And then showed Plaintiff Jane Doe how to give fellatio, including movements, noises, moaning, and groaning.”
“I tried to mimic what they wanted me to mimic, but it still came out just super uncomfortable,” Jane told The Daily Beast. “I knew when I left the booth that I didn’t complete what they wanted me to do.”
Haddish and Spears are accused of “intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor. Haddish is further accused of negligent supervision/failure to warn, breach of fiduciary duty, and constructive fraud,” reports the outlet.
The siblings seek general and special damages in addition to “any appropriate statutory damages.” Further specifics are undisclosed.
In response to the lawsuit, Haddish’s attorney Andrew Brettler issued a statement that reads:
“Plaintiff’s mother 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. Now, Ms. Morris has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”
“Through A Pedophiles Eyes”
The other skit, “Through a Pedophiles Eyes,” was reportedly filmed when Jane was 14 and John was 7.
The Daily Beast described its review of the video as such:
John spends most of the video clad only in his underwear as Spears’ character leers at him through two holes cut into a newspaper he pretends to read. During the sketch, the camera zooms in suggestively on the 7-year-old’s buttocks and crotch while he plays. Spears sprays baby oil onto the child’s back and massages it into his shoulders in one scene, and at another point the child plays with a train in a manner that suggests phallic masturbation. In another sequence, Spears smokes a cigarette while observing the child nude in a bathtub and pours water on his feet.
By the time the video ends, the child is peering at his babysitter through a newspaper and rubbing baby oil on his shirtless shoulder. The final line of on-screen text reads: “WATCH WHO YOU LEAVE YOUR KIDS WITH!”
The video is said to have been distributed on websites including FunnyOrDie.com and more.
Funny Or Die Responds
“Funny Or Die found this video absolutely disgusting and would never produce such content,” the comedic production studio told the source. “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.”