Actor and Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. pled guilty today to forcibly touching a woman in New York City.
The case dates back to an incident in 2018, and was only resolved after several years of delays. Here is more, via Associated Press:
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a 29-year-old woman told police he squeezed her breast without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square. A few months later, he was charged in two additional cases as more women came forward to accuse him of abuse. The new charges alleged he pinched a server’s buttocks after making a sexually suggestive remark to her at TAO Downtown and forcibly touched a woman inappropriately at the LAVO nightclub, both in 2018.
By pleading guilty, Gooding was able to avoid jail time. After six months of additional counseling, he can plead guilty to harassment and withdraw this earlier, more serious plea. Previously, Gooding had pled not guilty to all of these charges and denied any wrongdoing. According to the AP, prosecutors hoped to call “19 other accusers” as witnesses against Gooding if the case had gone to trial.
The 54-year-old Gooding won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Jerry Maguire. His other notable films include Boyz n the Hood, Outbreak, What Dreams May Come, and Pearl Harbor. In recent years, he’s worked in television, including appearances on American Horror Story and a stint playing O.J. Simpson on American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson.
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