WESTERN NEW YORK — Some of the scores of women who have accused Cuba Gooding Jr. of groping, unwanted kissing, and other inappropriate behavior have called for the outcome of the forcible touching case, which concluded on Thursday with no jail time for the actor.
The Oscar winner turned #MeToo defendant escaped jail time by accepting a conditional plea deal in which he pled guilty to charges related to just one of what prosecutors have said were complaints from at least 30 women. Many of them were assaulted in New York City nightclubs.
On Thursday, Gooding’s assistant district attorney in Manhattan, Coleen Balbert, told a judge that Gooding has been good since the bargain was negotiated in April and that he has finished six months of alcohol and behavioral rehabilitation. This let him change his guilty plea from a misdemeanor charge (for aggressively kissing a waitress in a Manhattan nightclub in 2018) to a civil harassment charge.
Gooding, best known for his roles in “Jerry Maguire” and “Boyz N the Hood,” will avoid further legal consequences and have his criminal record expunged as a result of “Radio.”
“This plea deal feels like a misstep,” said Kelsey Harbert, a neuroscience student whose complaint that Gooding touched her at a nightclub in 2019 resulted in his arrest but was not included in his guilty plea.
“More frustrating than words can express is that I was denied my day in court after fighting for justice against Mr. Gooding for his unwanted breast contact for three long years “Harbert, who shed a few tears as she spoke, added.
Harbert’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, termed the plea deal “an insult” to Gooding’s accusers and a “prosecutorial gift to a celebrity who is unworthy of such an outcome.”
Gooding’s therapist had given Balbert “good reports for the last six months,” as Balbert informed Judge Curtis Farber. According to Balbert, Gooding began therapy in September 2019 and plan to keep going even after his plea deal expired.
Gooding could have spent up to a year in jail if he had broken the terms of his plea agreement. Arrested in 2019, Gooding was among a cornucopia of Hollywood giants accused of misbehavior in the #MeToo movement, which exploded five years ago this month.
On the same day that Oscar winner Cuba Gooding was closing up his case, Kevin Spacey was on trial for sexual assault charges brought by actor Anthony Rapp.
While everything is going on, Harvey Weinstein, a former studio executive, and Danny Masterson, a former star of “That 70’s Show,” are both on trial for rape in Los Angeles. In 2020, Weinstein was found guilty of similar charges in New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Gooding fondled her without her permission at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge in the Times Square area in June of 2019. A few months later, in 2018, Gooding was charged with forcibly kissing a waitress at LAVO New York in midtown Manhattan and squeezing a server’s buttocks after making a sexually inappropriate remark to her at TAO Downtown.
The LAVO waitress noted in a victim impact statement that Gooding was experiencing “minimal repercussions” while his victims continued dealing with the emotional pain of his crimes.
The server at TAO Downtown requested, but was denied, an additional six months of therapy to guarantee a change in his behavior and send a “unique message” to men that sexual assault and misbehavior are unacceptable.
Asked about the criticism, the Manhattan district attorney’s office referred to Balbert’s remarks in court in April in which she said prosecutors believed the plea deal to be a “fair and equitable disposition” that spared accusers from having to testify at trial and being subject to cross-examination.
In court on Thursday, Gooding spoke little, did not apologize to his accusers (as he had in April), and did not stop to address reporters’ shouted questions as he hurried out. Gooding told Farber, “I kissed a waitress, your honor,” when he was asked to explain his actions.
In her victim impact statement, the waitress detailed how Gooding unexpectedly inserted his tongue into her mouth as she was serving customers. In the statement, read into the record by Balbert, the waitress said she was aware of occurrences involving Gooding and three other women at the club.
Previously, Gooding had entered not-guilty pleas to six counts of misdemeanor charges. His attorneys contended that overzealous prosecutors swept up in the #MeToo movement were seeking to make “commonplace gestures” or misunderstandings into crimes.
The criminal case isn’t the only one Gooding is facing; he’s also being sued civilly for alleged rapes of women in New York City in 2013 (among other things). After the judge issued a default judgment against Gooding in July because the actor had not responded to the lawsuit, Gooding hired an attorney and is now defending himself against the charges.
