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Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears’ child sexual assault lawsuit has been dropped after their accuser filed a notice of dismissal last Friday.
Cesidia Carosa confirmed to Fox News Digital that the lawsuit had been officially dismissed on Tuesday and included a photo of the dismissal notice filed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
According to the notice, the lawsuit was dismissed “with prejudice” by the plaintiff identified only as Jane Doe, who also filed the notice on behalf of the second accuser, her minor brother John Doe. A lawsuit dismissed with prejudice cannot ever be refiled.
Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears’ child sexual assault lawsuit has been dropped after their accuser filed a notice of dismissal last Friday.
(Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
The plaintiffs had accused Haddish and Spears of intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual battery, gross negligence, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor. In addition, Haddish was accused of “negligent supervision/failure to warn, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud.”
The lawsuit stated that the two convinced a 14-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy to film inappropriate video sketches starting in 2013.
The lawsuit stated that Jane and John Doe had met Haddish, 42, through their mother, who knew the “Night School” actress from the comedy circuit. The plaintiffs claimed that they grew to have a close relationship with Haddish, whom they referred to as “Auntie Tiff”, while she called them her niece and nephew.
“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,” Jane Doe said in a statement to TMZ on Wednesday.
“We wish Tiffany the best and are glad that we can all put this behind us.”
However, the “Girl’s Trip” star said that her career and reputation had been damaged significantly by the allegations.
However, the “Girl’s Trip” star said that her career and reputation had been damaged significantly by the allegations.
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV)
In a video obtained by TMZ, Haddish said, “I lost everything. All my gigs, gone. Everything, gone.”
When the paparazzo filming the actress asked her if she felt she could regain her reputation now that the lawsuit had been dropped, Haddish said, “I don’t know, bro.”
She added, “I don’t have no job, bro.”
Spears, who was not mentioned in Jane Doe’s statement, shared his reaction in a post on Instagram.
He shared a screenshot of an article about the dismissal from celebrity news blog The Shade Room, as well as a tweet from TMZ, writing, “I HOPE YALL KEEP THAT SAME ENERGY.”
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In the lawsuit, the siblings accused the comedians of producing a 2014 video titled “Through a Pedophiles Eyes”, in which Haddish played John Doe’s mother and Spears played a pedophile who allegedly was shown “lusting over the 7-year-old child and molesting him throughout the video.”
The filing stated that “Haddish was present during the filming of the entire video and aided, abetted, and watched Spears sexually molest a child.”
The video was uploaded to “Funny or Die” but was reportedly removed in 2018. Haddish shared a post in early September in which she said “I deeply regret having agreed to act” in the sketch.
Spears addressed the claims in an episode of his podcast “Spears & Steinberg.” He dismissed the lawsuit as an “extortion case” and “a shakedown”.
(Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
The lawsuit stated that in another alleged video, the children were instructed by Haddish to start “moaning and making sexual noises as they both ate [a] sandwich [from opposite ends] in a manner that simulated the act of fellatio.”
According to the filing, “Haddish verbally explained what was expected of Plaintiff Jane Doe and then showed Plaintiff Jane Doe how to give fellatio, including movements, noises, moaning, and groaning.”
On Sept. 1, Andrew Brettler, an attorney for Haddish, provided a statement to Fox News Digital which read, “Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.
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“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.”
At the beginning of September, Spears addressed the claims in an episode of his podcast “Spears & Steinberg.” He dismissed the lawsuit as an “extortion case” and “a shakedown”.
“We won’t be shaken down,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
