Cuba Gooding Jr. pleads guilty to forcibly touching woman in NYC nightclub

Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has pleaded guilty to a single count of forcible touching.

The plea comes after the star was accused by three women of touching them at different nightclubs in Manhattan in 2018 and 2019, The Associated Press reported.

Gooding was arrested nearly three years ago. His lawyers had tried to get charges either reduced or dismissed and had been scheduled to go on trial twice. One of the trials was delayed in April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic surged, causing court systems to shut down, the AP reported.

A 29-year-old woman had told police that Gooding had squeezed her breast without her consent while they were both at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge near Times Square, the AP reported.

Months later, a server said he pinched her buttocks and made a sexually suggestive remark to her while they were at TAO Downtown.

Another woman said he forcibly touched her while they were at the LAVO New York nightclub.

Originally he had pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts and denied the allegations. His lawyers said the charges were filed by overzealous prosecutors caught up in the #MeToo movement.

They called the incidents “commonplace gestures” or misunderstandings, not crimes, the AP reported.

If the cases went to trial, the prosecutors had planned to call 19 other women whose claims did not result in criminal charges, the AP reported.

The district attorney’s office said in 2019 that Gooding’s “prior acts demonstrate that his contacts with their intimate parts are intentional, not accidental, and that he is not mistaken about their lack of consent,” The New York Times reported.

Gooding pleaded guilty to the charge that stemmed from the LAVO incident.

Fox News reported that the guilty plea came with a no-jail agreement if he meets the term of his deal. The misdemeanor will be reduced to a violation at that time.

He is also facing a lawsuit in which he is accused of raping a woman in New York City in 2013. A judge had issued a default judgment in that case last year after the actor did not respond to the lawsuit. He has since retained a lawyer and is fighting the allegation.

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