Tiffany Haddish Opens Up About Her Friends Being Killed In Front Of Her As A Teenager

Tiffany Haddish shared that the recent events related to the death of George Floyd are something she witnessed at a young age.

According to E! News, the Girls Trip star was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Tuesday. During the interview, Haddish revealed that she was asked to attend Floyd’s memorial service last week. She said that the invitation was something she couldn’t pass up due to her own firsthand experience with gun violence when she was growing up.

“I have watched people be [killed] in front of me as a 13-year-old, 14-year-old girl,” she said. “And there was nothing I can do except, ‘No! Don’t do that!’ Just yelling out. What does that do? And so, I wanted to be there in support of the family ’cause I understand how they feel.”

Haddish, who grew up in Los Angeles’ South Central neighborhood, said Floyd’s memorial was cathartic for her. Although her main concern was to support Floyd’s family during the somber time, she used his service as a way to mourn and remember the friends she lost years prior.

“All my friends who passed away, all the people that I went to school with who’s passed away, have been locked up for no reason just ’cause they can’t afford a good lawyer or, you know, accused of things that they didn’t do,” Haddish continued.

The memorial service for Floyd took place on Thursday, June 4. In addition to Haddish’s appearance, Kevin Hart, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and T.I. also attended the memorial. Haddish shared that she also got emotional during the memorial’s moment of silence for Floyd. While standing next to the mother of another victim, Haddish said she thought of how Floyd’s alleged killer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd’s neck for the duration of their time in silence, which lasted for eight minutes and 43 seconds.

Although Haddish was at Floyd’s service strictly to support him and his loved ones, she recently addressed the backlash she received on social media for her appearance. During the funeral, Reverend Al Sharpton, who was the eulogy speaker at the memorial, named Haddish as one of the guests in attendance. The callout made several social media commenters say that she was only there to make her presence known to the public. Haddish denied the claims but said she was happy that the spectators were at least speaking about the event.

This isn’t the first time Haddish has opened up about her pre-fame life. Back in May, Haddish recalled being homeless and abused before her comedic career took off.