Hollywood actor, Cuba Gooding Jr. has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour count of forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2018 which makes him avoid a jail term.
Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of forcible touching, according to several reports, almost three years after he was arrested for inappropriately touching a woman, and after dozens of women have come forward with accusations of similar behavior from the Oscar-winning Jerry Maguire star.
Gooding, 54, will not serve any jail time and if he continues to receive counseling for six months, he will be able to withdraw his misdemeanor plea for a lesser one of harassment, according to the Associated Press.
Gooding was first arrested in 2019 and was ultimately charged with six misdemeanor counts for inappropriately touching three women in separate incidents at New York City clubs and bars, though over 20 women have accused him of various forms of inappropriate contact or conduct.
His guilty plea was in relation to a 2018 incident at LAVO nightclub where he “forcibly touched a woman inappropriately,” and Gooding told the judge he “kissed the waitress on her lips.”
If the case had gone to trial, the judge would have allowed two other women to testify about their interactions with Gooding, which did not result in charges, and prosecutors wanted to call a total of 19 accusers as witnesses, according to the Associated Press and the New York Times.
The other charges related to incidents in which Gooding allegedly pinched a woman’s butt at TAO nightclub in 2018, and allegedly squeezed a woman’s breast without her consent at a rooftop bar at the Moxy Hotel in 2019, which he was first arrested in relation to.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to the six counts and denied any wrongdoing. Gooding’s trial was delayed because of the pandemic and because his lawyers attempted to have the case dismissed or the charges reduced, according to the Associated Press.
A woman known as Jane Doe civilly sued Gooding for $6 million in 2020 for allegedly raping her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, which Gooding has denied doing.
In January, he requested the suit be thrown out, claiming a law that allows victims who suppressed their attacks or did not realize they had been assaulted to sue after many years does not apply to Doe.
Cuba Gooding Jr. earned an Academy Award for best-supporting actor in the 1996 romantic comedy “Jerry Maguire” playing the role of a tense football player.
