Entertainment
Tiffany Haddish speaks out over grooming allegations: ‘I know people have a bunch of questions’-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro
‘I’m right there with you.’
Tiffany Haddish was accused of grooming (Picture: Getty)
Tiffany Haddish has spoken out against allegations of grooming.
The Girls Trip actress has been accused of grooming two siblings when they were children, along with Aries Spears.
They have since denied the accusations, and the 42-year-old has now addressed the claims publicly for the first time.
Taking to Instagram, she began a statement: ‘I know people have a bunch of questions. 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.’
There was no caption included with the post, and the comments have been turned off.
The siblings, known only as Jane and John Doe, claimed that they were left traumatized after allegedly being groomed by the comedians when they were younger.
According to reports in TMZ, the older sister – now 22 – alleged that Haddish convinced her to film a sexually suggestive video when she was 14 years old, and that the Night School star taught her how to mimic fellatio.
Aries Spears also denied the allegations against him (Picture: GC Images)
As well as this, she also reportedly claimed that Haddish and Spears molested her 14-year-old brother, who was seven years old at the time, while filming a Funny or Die video titled Through a Pedophiles Eyes.
They are said to be suing for damages after the video was supposedly posted online when they were too young to consent.
According to the Daily Beast, Haddish and Spears been 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.
Haddish’s attorney strongly denied the allegations (Picture: Getty)
The siblings alleged that they developed social disorders – with the suit claiming that their mom tried to reach a $15,000 (£13,000) settlement with Spears.
An attorney for Haddish strongly denied the claims, telling Metro.co.uk in a statement: ‘The 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.
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‘Now, the 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’ attorney said to Metro.co.uk: ‘He isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.’
A representative for comedy video website Funny Or Die, added to the Daily Beast: ‘Funny Or Die found this video absolutely disgusting and would never produce such content. 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.’
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