Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears are no longer the defendants in a lawsuit accusing them of sexual battery, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor. On Tuesday (Sept. 20), a 22-year-old woman and her minor brother, identified as Jane and John Doe, requested the dismissal of their lawsuit. With the suit dismissed “with prejudice,” neither Jane nor John can pursue a case against Haddish or Spears in the future.
In a statement obtained by TMZ, Jane said: “My family and I have known Haddish for many years — and we now know that she would never harm [my brother or me] or help anyone else do anything that could harm us. We wish Tiffany the best and are glad that we can all put this behind us.” Jane did not mention Spears in the statement.
However, Spears took to Instagram on the same day to address the dismissal, posting a screenshot with the caption: “I HOPE [Y’ALL] KEEP THAT SAME ENERGY,” he wrote.
As alleged in the lawsuit filed last month, the 22-year-old plaintiff accused Haddish and Spears of intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor. She claims that the comedians forced her and her brother to film sexually themed sketches when they were underage. It is alleged that the incidents occurred when Jane was 14 years old and her brother, John, was 7 years old.
According to Entertainment Weekly, one of the sketches the siblings were alleged to have participated in was titled “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes” and was posted on the site Funny or Die before being removed. Spears played a pedophile in the sketch, which allegedly included massaging baby oil onto John’s back and observing him nude in the bathtub while smoking a cigarette. According to the publication, per the complaint, John called his mother crying after the shoot ended and told her he no longer wanted to film.
After the suit made headlines, Haddish expressed her regret in a statement: “I know people have a bunch of questions. I get it. I’m right there with you. [But,] unfortunately, because there is an ongoing legal case, there’s very little that I can say right now. 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.”
You can see both Haddish’s statement and Spears’ Instagram post down below: