The actress and comedian called out trolls who’ve tried to “destroy” her character.
ByJaelani Turner-Williams
September 24, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Tiffany Haddish said online cruelty is so impactful that she sometimes wishes she could not read so the hateful comments.
- Haddish discussed how trolling effected her on episode six of Dinners with DeMar.
- Haddish explained that she developed toughness while being raised by her since-deceased mother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a 1988 car accident.
Years of struggling with her mother gave actress-comedian Tiffany Haddish an easier time handling online trolls.
The Deputy star was a guest on the September 22 episode of DeMar DeRozan’s Dinners with DeMarand shared how online vitriol has made her want to permanently avoid negative comments. Around the 27-minute mark of the episode, Haddish said she had practiced dealing with hateful comments while being raised by her mother, Leola, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a 1988 car accident.
“She used to say some really messed-up stuff to me, and I did not understand why she was so mean and nasty to me,” Haddish said around the 28-minute mark of the video below.
“Cut to, you know, stardom and this internet is out and how people try to destroy your character, try to attack you, try to hurt you,” she continued. “They don’t even know you. They just say mean nasty stuff. And some days I wish I didn’t know how to read.”
She elaborated, ‘Cause if I didn’t know how to read, I wouldn’t see any of that. It wouldn’t affect me at all. But the fact that I do know how to read, I see it, it does [hurt]. And I go, ‘Ah, it’s nowhere near as mean as the stuff my mama used to say.'”
Because she used to fight her mother, sometimes in public spaces, Haddish said she’s “never scared” to confront “tumultuous situations.” The entertainer was faced with public backlash after a 2014 skit that starred her and comedian Aries Spears went viral, depicting a young boy, who was 7 at the time, acting in suggestive positions around Spears, who was portraying a pedophile.
A woman, who’s now in her mid-20s, sued Haddish and Spears years after recruiting her and her brother for the skit, with charges including gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment. The case was ultimately dropped, but four years later, on an episode of MRECK TV, comedian Scruncho claimed that Haddish struggled with the fallout and was “crying every day.”
