Cuba Gooding Jr. Pleads Guilty To Forcibly Touching Woman: Reports

NEW YORK CITY — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr., who was accused of groping or kissing three different women without their consent, pleaded guilty Wednesday to forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2018, according to multiple reports.

The guilty plea came nearly three years after the Oscar-winning actor was arrested in a case that saw several delays as his lawyers sought to get charges reduced or dismissed.

Prior to his plea, Gooding, 54, faced a criminal trial on charges of unwanted sexual touching, stemming from incidents involving three women in Manhattan restaurants and nightclubs in 2018 and 2019, The New York Times reported.

He pleaded guilty to just one of the allegations.

Gooding was originally charged in connection with a June 2019 encounter during a party at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar, a lounge at the Moxy NYC Times Square hotel in Manhattan, The Times reported. The accuser said Gooding placed his hand on her breast without her consent and squeezed, according to a criminal complaint.

Gooding was also charged with pinching a woman’s bottom at TAO Downtown in October 2018 and in a September 2018 incident at the LAVO nightclub, according to reports.

Gooding's plea deal calls for no jail time. If he continues counseling for six months, he can withdraw the misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to a lesser violation of harassment.

Gooding had previously pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts and denied all allegations of wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued that overzealous prosecutors, caught up in the fervor of the #MeToo movement, are trying to turn “commonplace gestures” or misunderstandings into crimes.

The judge ruled that if the Gooding case went to trial, prosecutors could have called two additional women to testify about their allegations that Gooding also violated them. Those women, whose claims did not result in criminal charges, were among 19 other accusers whom prosecutors were seeking to call as witnesses.

Along with the criminal case, Gooding is accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman in New York City in 2013. After a judge issued a default judgment in July because Gooding hadn’t responded to the lawsuit, the actor retained a lawyer and is fighting the allegations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.