Tiffany Haddish‘s accuser is backing off of her child abuse lawsuit against the actress for coercing her and her brother into filming a sexual skit. It’s been weeks since the 22-year-old identified as Jane Doe alleged that Haddish and fellow comedian Aries Spears “groomed” and “molested” them when they were teenagers.
The suit specifically states, “Haddish knew the child was under 18 and sexually exploited Plaintiff Jane Doe for profit and likes on social media.” However, in 2018, Jane Doe’s mother received a $15,000 settlement from Spears. The case’s court documents recently have been sealed, but it looks like Haddish and Spears are completely off the hook.
TMZ has learned that Jane Doe decided to dismiss the case with prejudice in new court docs, which means Haddish and Spears cannot be charged with the same crime twice. In a statement, she described the “Night School” star as a harmless individual.
The plaintiff said, “My family and I have known Tiffany Haddish for many years, and we know that she would never harm me or my brother 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.”
Spears was not addressed in the statement, but according to the outlet he’s “also in the clear.”
Haddish has been relatively silent since the lawsuit filed on Aug. 30 in Los Angeles Superior Court, which accuses them of encouraging the siblings to participate in a controversial comedy bit titled “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes.” The shocking clip was filmed nearly a decade ago and resurfaced online. Jane and John Doe, who were respectively 14 and 7 years old, at the time, were children of Haddish’s close friend. In the complaint, Jane alleged the 42-year-old drove her to a studio in Hollywood, California. While there, she reportedly was forced to eat a sandwich in a sexually suggestive way, while moaning as coached by Haddish.
The video drew many eyes toward the “Girls Trip” star, who expressed “deep regret” in agreeing to participate in the skit on Instagram.
A week later, Spears broke down while discussing the status of his career due to the child abuse allegations. During an episode of his “Spears and Steinberg” podcast, the former “MadTV star” shared that he was “nervous” about his future.
“I already felt like my career was over before all this,” he said. “I thought I was blackballed, and I felt like my s–t was over. But I always said I felt like I was one thing away from the turnaround, but now with this, I’m almost certain that tombstone was written.”
Jane Doe planned to settle if Haddish denounced initial claims from her lawyer that the allegations were part of a “shakedown.” To protect John Doe’s identity, the original complaint has been sealed and the matter will be settled privately.
