Sophia Michaels
Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to harassment on Thursday, the New York Times reported, wrapping up his criminal sexual misconduct case — and now avoiding serving prison time.
Gooding pleaded guilty to a single count of forcible touching in April as part of a plea deal that would lessen the charge to harassment if he completed six months of treatment for alcohol and behavior modification. With the plea today, Gooding met those terms. He was sentenced to time served, which meant he would not serve time in prison.
The allegations against the Jerry Maguire actor date back to 2018, when one woman accused him of grabbing her breast at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar in Manhattan. Gooding turned himself in and was arrested in 2019.
Following the arrest, two more women came forward with accusations of their own; one, a server, said he grabbed her buttocks at Tao Downtown, while another claimed he groped her at Lavo, a restaurant and nightclub. Gooding’s plea deal came from the latter incident. Before the plea deal, Gooding had pled not guilty to six misdemeanor counts.
Gooding was one of many Hollywood figures accused of misconduct after the #MeToo movement launched in 2017. While the criminal case is wrapped, and according to the Associated Press, he will not have a criminal record, the actor still faces civil suits for sexual abuse, including an allegation brought forward in 2020 that he raped a woman twice in his hotel room in 2013. Reps for Gooding have denied that allegation.
