Cuba Gooding Jr. Pleads Not Guilty To Assault Charges

Actor Cuba Gooding Jr pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to pinching a woman’s buttocks in a nightclub last October, four months after he was charged with groping a woman in a separate incident.

Manhattan prosecutors said Gooding pinched the woman at Manhattan’s Tao nightclub after making a sexually suggestive remark to her earlier in the evening, and denied it when she confronted him.

Gooding was accused in June of touching a woman’s breasts at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar in Manhattan, a charge he has denied. Both alleged incidents are part of the same criminal case.

He is charged with one count of forcible touching and one count of sexual abuse, which are misdemeanors, in connection with each alleged incident.

Gooding, 51, won a supporting actor Oscar in 1997 for “Jerry Maguire” and is known for roles in films including “A Few Good Men” and “The Butler” and in the television miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

Gooding, who is divorced, is one of dozens of men in politics, entertainment, sports and the business world who have been accused of sexual misconduct since allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein triggered the #MeToo movement. Heller said he hoped Gooding’s case would be a “hallmark case for the ‘not me’ movement”.

Weinstein is to stand trial in New York later this year on charges of rape and assault involving two women. He has denied any non-consensual sex.