- Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of forcible touching on Wednesday.
- The actor had been charged in connection to the groping of three women in New York in 2018 and 2019.
- If he completes the terms of his deal, he won't have to spend any time in jail.
Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of forcible touching on Wednesday, insuring that he wouldn't have to spend any time in jail over allegations that he inappropriately touched three women at New York nightclubs in 2018 and 2019, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
"I apologize for making anybody ever feel inappropriately touched … I am a celebrity figure. I come into contact with people. I never want them to feel slighted or uncomfortable in any way," Gooding, 54, said, according to reporter Victoria Bekiempis.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert told the judge Wednesday that her office reached a plea deal after lengthy discussions with the accusers and Gooding's legal team.
"Before we begin," Balbert said, "I would just like to say that we fully credit and believe all of the survivors in this case and thank all of the women and other witnesses who cooperated with our office during the pendency of our investigation."
The plea deal comes three years after Gooding was arrested after a 29-year-old woman claimed the actor squeezed her breast without her consent at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge.
—Victoria Bekiempis (@vicbekiempis) April 13, 2022
Prosecutors eventually charged Gooding with six misdemeanor counts, after two other women came forward with similar stories. He had previously pleaded not guilty and denied all wrong doing, with his attorneys arguing that prosecutors were getting caught up in the #MeToo movement and turning "commonplace gestures" into crimes, according to ABC News.
The Manhattan DA's office moved to admit 19 additional women as witnesses, who said they had also been groped or forcibly kissed by Gooding, but the judge ruled that only two additional accusers could testify at the trial, The New York Times reported.
The trial languished in the courts for years due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the original trial date of April 2020 having to get postponed.
That delay seems to have benefited Gooding. According to Fox News, prior District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. refused to make an offer to Gooding that didn't involve jail time.
But when new DA Alvin Bragg took over the office in January, Gooding's legal team was able to negotiate a better deal that spared him having to serve any jail time. According to CBS News, if Gooding completes six months of counseling, the misdemeanor plea is automatically withdrawn and he can admit to a lesser violation of harassment.
Bekiempis tweeted that a victim tried to speak about Gooding's cushy plea deal, but was cut off by one of Gooding's attorneys.
"No! Absolutely not judge!" the attorney said, adding that the victim should not be allowed to make "a statement for the rest of society."
Insider spoke with Gooding's attorney, Frank Rothman, following the hearing on Wednesday, who said his client is "extraordinarily pleased and relieved" with the deal.
"I think the DA's office did the right thing at the end of the day by agreeing to this deal," Rothman said.
Rothman said he was brought onto the case about five months ago, when both sides couldn't come to an agreement. And he said that he felt the DA's office was being "quite unreasonable" at the time.
"After much wrangling and convincing and doing what we do, they agreed to a deal where he would admit to one of the charges that was never really in dispute — that he kissed a waitress on her lips," Rothman said.
As to the victim who spoke in court on Wednesday, Rothman called her "delusional" and said "she really needs help ... she's not functioning in the real world."
"The kindest thing I could say is she's not a reliable historian. While there was some physical contact between them, it wasn't sexual in nature, it wasn't criminal," Rothman said.
"This is not victim shaming," Rothman added. "She misrepresented what happened that night. She painted a twisted picture of the events that occurred."
Gooding is also facing a separate lawsuit based on accusations that he raped a woman in New York City in 2013.