Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. faces two new lawsuits for sexual assault

Two women have sued the actor Cuba Gooding Jr. this Wednesday for sexual assaults allegedly perpetrated in 2018 and 2019. One of the victims, who has not made her name public, has accused him of having kissed her without her consent when she was a waitress at the Lavo restaurant. of New York in 2018. The other plaintiff, Kelsey Harbert, alleges that in 2019 Gooding Jr. touched her breast at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge restaurant, also located in New York, after she sat at a table next to him. to the actor and his girlfriend.

According to court documents, Kelsey Harbert filed a police report in 2019 and Gooding Jr. was arrested for the touching four days later. The lawsuits have been filed under the so-called New York State Adult Survivors Law, which allows victims to sue their alleged sexual attackers even if the crimes have expired. The two victims have requested compensation for an amount not yet specified for the assault and subsequent injuries they suffered as a result of the actor’s alleged behavior.

Last June, the actor and star of Jerry Maguire ―winner of an Oscar in 1996―, avoided a trial for rape by reaching an agreement with the complainant, who accused him of having raped her in a New York hotel in 2013. The plaintiff requested six million dollars in damages from a man who authorities say has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by more than 30 women, including groping, forced kisses and other abusive behavior.

Gooding Jr., very popular in the nineties thanks to films like Boyz n the Hood (Neighborhood colleaguesin Spain) and Radiowas allowed to plead guilty in April 2022 to a misdemeanor in another case, admitting that he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018. After six months of behavioral and alcohol rehabilitation, the The interpreter then withdrew his initial guilty plea and instead pleaded guilty to that misdemeanor, which expunged his criminal record and avoided further sanctions.