Cuba Gooding Jr. Charged with Misdemeanor Forcible Touching
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., has been charged with a misdemeanor count of forcible touching following an incident at a nightclub, the New York Police Department said Thursday.
Gooding turned himself in to NYPD detectives on Thursday, surrounded by a throng of media. Later in the day, he was arraigned in front of Judge Herb Moses. Gooding was released without bail and is set to return to court on June 26.
The “Jerry Maguire” actor is alleged to have touched a woman’s breast on Sunday at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar in Manhattan.
Gooding’s attorney, Mark Heller, denied the allegation, and said that surveillance video of the incident will exonerate his client. Heller told USA Today that he had seen the video and “did not see one scintilla of criminal culpability on the part of Cuba Gooding.”
Gooding also spoke to TMZ on Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport. In that interview, Gooding said he was not guilty and that he “trusts the system.”
“There’s a tape that shows what really happened,” Gooding added.
Gooding first rose to fame as the star of “Boyz N the Hood” in 1991, before going on to win an Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1996’s “Jerry Maguire.” He also recently scored an Emmy nomination for his performance as O.J. Simpson on FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”
