- Cuba Gooding Jr. has completed alcohol and behavior modification counseling.
- He pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge that he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub.
- Some of Gooding’s accusers are pressing ahead with civil litigation against the actor.
After complying with the terms of a conditional plea agreement reached in April, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. resolved his New York City forcible touching case Thursday with a guilty plea to a lesser charge and no jail time.
According to Prosecutor Coleen Balbert, Gooding has stayed out of trouble and completed six months of alcohol and behaviour modification counselling, which has allowed him to withdraw his misdemeanour plea and plead guilty to a harassment violation.
Balbert stated that Gooding’s therapist has given her “positive reports for the last six months.” According to Balbert, the actor is continuing his treatment beyond the time specified in his plea agreement.
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Gooding, 54, will face no additional penalties and will not have a criminal record because he replaced his misdemeanour plea with a plea to a noncriminal violation. If Gooding had not followed the terms of the agreement, he could have faced up to a year in prison.
In April, Gooding pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of forcibly kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018. That was just one of dozens of allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against the Oscar winner in recent years.
Some of Gooding’s accusers have criticised the “Jerry Maguire” star’s light punishment, and some have filed civil lawsuits against him.
Gooding “saw minimal repercussions” while his victims dealt with the fallout from his actions, according to a victim impact statement read into the court record by Balbert.
Arrested in 2019, Gooding was one of many Hollywood heavyweights accused of wrongdoing as part of the #MeToo movement.
While Gooding was wrapping up his case in court on Thursday, another Oscar winner, Kevin Spacey, was on trial down the street in a civil lawsuit alleging sexual assault on actor Anthony Rapp.
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Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, former studio head Harvey Weinstein and “That 70’s Show” star Danny Masterson are facing rape charges. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after being convicted of similar charges in New York in 2020.
Gooding’s case has dragged on for more than three years, owing to court delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a 29-year-old woman told police at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square that he fondled her without her consent. That was not the incident described in his guilty plea.
A few months later, prosecutors charged Gooding with pinching a server’s buttocks after making a sexually suggestive remark to her at TAO Downtown, as well as forcibly kissing a waitress at LAVO New York in midtown Manhattan, to which he pleaded guilty.
Both incidents are said to have happened in 2018.
Gooding admitted at a plea hearing in April that he “kissed the waitress on her lips” without her consent and told Judge Curtis Farber during Thursday’s harassment plea: “I kissed a waitress, your honour.”
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