Tiffany Haddish is back in the limelight for the first time since two accusers dropped a molestation lawsuit against her and Aries Spears in late August.
The actress and comedian walked the red carpet and posed with the celebs at the Elle Women in Hollywood Celebration at the Getty Center in Los Angeles Monday. The event honored Sigourney Weaver, Anne Hathaway and Michelle Yeoh, who’s speech at the event was shared by Haddish on Instagram.
“@michelleyeoh_official is on point,” Haddish wrote over a clip on her Instagram Story.
The 42-year-old came under fire after a lawsuit filed in August in Los Angeles Superior Court alleged she “groomed” and “molested” two underage siblings.
According to legal documents, the Girls Trip actress – along with comedian Aries Spears, who is named co-defendant in the lawsuit – encouraged a 14-year-old girl to perform fellatio on a sandwich in 2013. One year later, the lawsuit alleged that Haddish and Spears featured a seven-year-old boy in a skit in which he was asked to strip down to his underwear. The plaintiffs in the suit adopted the names Jane Doe and John Doe in the suit’s filings. They are now 22 and 15, respectively.
The Daily Beast broke the story Thursday, and details both incidents of the alleged sexual abuse. In the latter incident, “John spends most of the video clad only in his underwear as Spears’ character leers at him through two holes cut into a newspaper he pretends to read,” The Daily Beast reported.
It continues: “During the sketch, the camera zooms in suggestively on the seven-year-old’s buttocks and crotch while he plays. Spears sprays baby oil onto the child’s back and massages it into his shoulders in one scene, and at another point the child plays with a train in a manner that suggests phallic masturbation. In another sequence, Spears smokes a cigarette while observing the child nude in a bathtub and pours water on his feet.” The video also shows Haddish playing the boy’s guardian before leaving him with Spears, who plays a pedophile.
Haddish’s attorney, Andrew Brettler dismissed the accusations, stating that the “plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, had been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years,” he told the Los Angeles 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.”
Spears’ attorney, Debra Opri also responded to the allegations. “He isn’t going to fall for any shakedown,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
