Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of forcibly touching a woman in a case in which the actor was accused of unwanted sexual contact by three women at New York City nightspots.
The Academy Award-winning actor appeared before New York County Supreme Court acting Justice Curtis Farber to enter his plea for just one of the allegations. “I apologize for ever making anybody feel inappropriately touched,” Gooding said, according to the New York Times.
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Gooding, 54, had been accused by more than 20 women of groping or forcibly kissing and was facing a criminal trial in connection with three women who made allegations of inappropriate conduct at clubs in New York in 2018 and 2019.
The actor was arrested in June 2019 after a woman told police he squeezed her breast without her consent at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square. He was also charged a few months later for allegedly pinching a woman’s buttocks at a Manhattan nightclub in October 2018 and forcibly touching a woman at the LAVO nightclub in September 2018. Gooding previously had pleaded not guilty and denied claims of wrongdoing.
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The plea calls for no jail time, and if Gooding continues counseling for six months, he will be allowed to withdraw the misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to a lesser violation of harassment, according to the Associated Press.
