Cuba Gooding Jr. has pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching after he was accused of violating three different women at Manhattan nightclubs back in 2018 and 2019.
It comes after the case was subject to several delays as Gooding’s lawyers repeatedly attempted to get the charges reduced or dismissed. As a result of his guilty plea, the Oscar-winning actor avoids jail time. Gooding must continue his alcohol and behaviour counselling though, which he started three years ago, for six more months without any further arrests. If he completes this, his conviction will be reduced to a violation, which isn’t classed as a crime.
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a woman informed police that he had squeezed her breast without her consent at a club near Times Square. After that incident came to light, two more women came forward with accusations of inappropriate touching. According to one of those woman, Gooding allegedly pinched her bottom at a club in 2018.
On Wednesday, April 13th, Gooding admitted to non-consensual physical contact with two women. It comes after he previously pleaded not guilty to six other misdemeanour charges and had denied all other accusations. More than 20 woman in total have now come forward to accuse Gooding of inappropriate conduct stretching back two decades. The actor’s lawyers had attempted to argue that the allegations against their client were simply trying to turn “commonplace” gestures into crimes.
Gooding famously won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1997 for his star-making role in Jerry Maguire. His other film credits include Boyz n the Hood, Pearl Harbor, and Snow Dogs. On TV, he notably played O.J. Simpson in the miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
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