Reps for Tiffany Haddish, Aries Spears call child sexual abuse lawsuit a ‘shakedown’

Comedians Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears are being sued after being accused of child sexual abuse.

According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the actors allegedly assaulted a pair of siblings — named John Doe and Jane Doe in the filing — when they were 7 and 14. The Daily Beast first reported on the lawsuit Thursday.

The suit alleges that Haddish (“Girls Trip”) and Spears (“MADtv”) “groomed” and “molested” the plaintiffs, and that some of the incidents were recorded on video. However, Haddish’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, dismissed the accusations.

“Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years,” he said in a statement to The Times. “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.”

When reached by The Times on Thursday, an attorney for Spears, Debra Opri, responded: “He isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.”

As “a longtime family friend” of the siblings’ mother, Haddish regularly visited the plaintiffs’ home, the lawsuit says. The siblings also claim that Haddish took John Doe to Spears’ home, where he was allegedly molested by the comedian.

“The molestation video was uploaded and published to the website ‘Funny or Die’ in 2014 and was not removed from the internet until May 2021,” the filing says.

The 31-page suit also alleges that Spears wanted Jane Doe to copy the actions of a video where a man and a woman ate a sandwich while “moaning and making sexual noises” in a way “that simulated the act of fellatio.” Haddish allegedly showed Jane Doe “how to give fellatio, including movements, noises, moaning, and groaning.”

Jane Doe also allegedly appeared in a “sexually suggestive” video.

In August 2014, Haddish and Spears filmed John Doe for what was supposed to be a reel to help him land a gig at Nickelodeon.

For the skit — titled “Through A Pedophiles Eyes,” per the suit — John Doe was allegedly stripped down to his underwear, with Spears “lusting over the 7-year-old and molesting him throughout the video” while Haddish was not present on-screen.

“After filming, Mr. Doe called his mother crying, saying he did not want to film anymore,” the suit says.

The plaintiff’s mother reached out to Spears multiple times asking for the footage. Spears allegedly said he was not done editing the video, but claimed that the “footage was unusable” and deleted it. Haddish said she did not have a copy.

In 2018, the children’s mother attempted a $15,000 settlement with Spears, but failed.

The recently-filed suit said John Doe and Jane Doe are accusing Haddish and Spears of gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor.