Cuba Gooding Jr. has pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching.
The “Jerry Maguire” actor, who had been accused of groping or forcibly kissing more than 20 women, appeared in a court in Manhattan on Wednesday and entered the plea as part of a deal, according to The New York Times.
The misdemeanor count relates to the allegation that he forcibly kissed a woman at the LAVO Nightclub in New York in 2018.
Under the terms of the deal, the 54-year-old avoids jail time and must continue his alcohol and behavior counseling, which he began following his arrest in 2019, for six more months without any arrests.
If Gooding Jr. fulfills these terms, he can withdraw the plea and admit to a lesser charge of harassment, an official from the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.
If he does not, the guilty plea would stand and he could face up to a year in prison.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Curtis Farber asked the Oscar-winning actor if the allegation he admitted to was true.
“Yes, your honor… I kissed the waitress on her lips,” he said, later adding, “I apologize for ever making anybody feel inappropriately touched.”
Cuba Gooding Jr. was originally arrested in June 2019 and charged with squeezing a women’s breast without her consent in a Manhattan nightclub that year.
Two more women subsequently came forward with allegations of unwanted sexual touching and he pleaded guilty to one of those accusations on Wednesday.
He had faced a criminal trial over the three incidents. In preparation for the trial, the Manhattan district attorney’s office asked a judge to admit as witnesses 19 other women who came forward with similar accusations.
