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Cuba Gooding Jr.’s legal problems have finally reared their ugly head.
The actor’s feeling the repercussions of forcibly kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018 with a deal that will likely allow him to avoid any jail time. Instead, Gooding pleaded guilty to the forcible touching and even apologized for the extremely inappropriate incident four years ago.
“I apologize for making anybody ever feel inappropriately touched,” he said. “I am a celebrity figure. I come into contact with people. I never want them to feel slighted or uncomfortable in any way.”
In the orchestrated plea deal, Gooding was accused of violating three different women at various Manhattan nightspots in 2018 and 2019 and pleaded guilty to kissing a waitress at LAVO on her lips. However, the actor will only avoid imprisonment if he continues to attend “alcohol and behavior modification” counseling for six months.” Then he will be allowed to withdraw the misdemeanor charge and cop to a lower charge of harassment.
Gooding’s activities first became public in 2019 when he was arrested after a 29-year-old woman told police he fondled her without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge in Midtown. The victim is named Kelsey Harbert and claimed that at dinner one evening, Gooding grabbed her breast “as if I was a piece of meat for dinner that night.”
31-year-old Harbert was made aware of the consequences Gooding was facing and wasn’t too satisfied, saying, “I feel very sad and feel very lost for what I can do.”
The third incident allegedly occurred the year prior, in 2018 when he made a sexually suggestive remark to a waitress before pinching her butt.
Gooding is also fighting another lawsuit that accuses him of raping a woman in 2013. Famous discrimination and women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred represents the victim and wants the actor to be held accountable.
“Justice was significantly delayed in this case for many reasons, and I do not feel that justice was achieved today with the entry of this plea, although I do understand why under the circumstances that the prosecution offered a plea,” she said.
