‘PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR’

Cuba Gooding Jr. Accused by Seven More Women of Sexual Misconduct, Court Papers Allege

Oscar-winner denies touching the woman intimately without her permission, but prosecutors want to argue it shows a pattern of behavior.

Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., who is already facing six counts of misdemeanor sexual abuse and forcible touching involving three accusers, has been accused of sexual misconduct by seven other women in court papers.

Although he has only been charged in alleged incidents related to the three accusers, prosecutors hope to introduce the other claims in court to prove a pattern of sexually abusive behavior.

Quoting court papers filed by Manhattan prosecutors, Page Six reports Gooding is accused of groping and forcibly kissing a woman at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. He ripped her tights, placed his fingers on her anus, and only stopped when she bit him on the cheek to make her escape, the documents state.

Gooding’s lawyer has vehemently denied the claims by the seven women. Page Six says the new claims now bring to 22 the number of women who have made allegations against Gooding.

The allegations detailed in the court documents date back to 2003, says Page Six.

In Atlanta in 2011, he allegedly groped a woman who was an aspiring actress and, when she confronted him, threatened to damage her career, Page Six says.

The papers allege that at Cafe Havana in Malibu, California, in 2016 he told a woman and her friend: “You guys are peeing on me tonight,” and that in December 2018, at the same bar, he told the same woman: “You’re going to sit on my face, pee in my mouth, and pee all over me.”

“Defendant’s past behavior shows that he routinely approaches women while at bars or nightclubs with whom he has had limited or no prior interaction, and touches them inappropriately,” the prosecutors say in the papers, Page Six reports.

Gooding faces six counts of misdemeanor sexual abuse and forcible touching involving three accusers. Prosecutors are asking a judge to allow the additional accusers’ allegations to be considered at trial.

Gooding’s lawyer, Mark Heller, said in a statement Monday that his client “has and does deny all allegations of criminal conduct.”

“Unfortunately, people come out of the woodwork, making false allegations against Cuba, as often times happens when a celebrity is accused by the District Attorney’s Office in a public forum,” Heller said.

“The spurious, uncharged allegations offered by the District Attorney’s Office are so ancient and outdated and lacking in details and impairs the defendant from defending against them; thus, it demonstrates that the District Attorney’s Office’s motive in introducing these inflammatory, uncharged allegations is not for any probative value, but to merely gain an advantage against the defendant and prejudice the jury against the defendant.”

Gooding, who was paraded in handcuffs in June by the NYPD after he was charged with forcible touching in a Manhattan nightclub, is due back in court on Jan. 22.

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

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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