Tiffany Haddish Says She Checked With Usher Before Making a Herpes Joke About Him
As a comedian, Tiffany Haddish has had her share of jokes at the expense of her celebrity friends — but according to her, she always checks with the person before taking a playful jab at them.
In a new interview with Cosmopolitan, the Girls Trip star opened up about accountability in comedy. “I never thought you could just say horrible things about somebody and think they’re not going to slap the s— out of you, and I think that’s because I grew up in foster care,” she said. “I check and verify with people. If I can’t say it to your face, I shouldn’t be able to say it. Period. That’s how I draw the line.”
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She then revealed that she has a joke about Usher having a sexually transmitted disease, which she openly has said in front of the “Love in This Club” singer. “I got this joke, ‘I curse you out with joy. I hope that you spread it. I hope you spread it like Usher spreads herpes.’ I have said that in front of Usher.”
As for what her Grammy-winning friend had to say on the matter, Haddish shared, “Usher said, ‘Your a– is crazy.’ I said, ‘Yeah, well, there’s a rumor out there saying you got herpes. I don’t know if you do or don’t, but that s— is funny.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it is.’ If he had said, ‘Tiff, don’t say that no more. I don’t like it. I’m not comfortable with you saying that,’ I would stop saying it.”
Billboard has reached out to Usher’s reps for comment.
In 2017, Usher was accused of potentially passing herpes to several sexual partners during unprotected sex acts, without warning he had the virus. The plaintiffs, Quantasia Sharpton and two anonymous others — “Jane Doe” and “John Doe” — claimed sexual battery, fraud, negligence and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress against the singer, requesting an award of punitive damages decided in a trial by jury.
The case from Laura Helm (originally “Jane Doe”) was dropped in November 2017, while Sharpton’s case was dismissed in September 2019, according to The Blast.
