Cuba Gooding Jr. settled his civil rape case on Tuesday, June 6, moments before the Manhattan federal-court trial was scheduled to start jury selection. The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit filed in August 2020 by a woman known in court papers as Jane Doe. The woman alleged that she’d met Gooding in 2013 at a downtown New York restaurant. The woman, her friend, and Gooding had all agreed to have another drink at the Mercer Hotel. Gooding left his table, and a man who seemed like a security guard said that the actor wanted to meet the woman outside in a cab. She told her friend, and they agreed that they would meet at the hotel for drinks. After Gooding and the woman arrived at the hotel, he allegedly said that he needed to change clothes. While the woman said she could wait, Gooding insisted he would “be quick,” and she went upstairs. Once upstairs, the woman alleged in her lawsuit, he raped her and penetrated her anally without consent.
The woman is among many who have accused Gooding of sexual misconduct, which first came to light in June 2019 after a woman claimed that Gooding had groped her breast. He surrendered to New York City police on June 13, 2019, and ultimately faced six misdemeanor counts involving sexual misconduct. Gooding wound up pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor count in that case on April 13, 2022.
Prosecutors said they had offered a plea agreement, since the judge wouldn’t let them bring up other uncharged bad acts at his trial. Because Gooding complied with the terms of his plea deal — he continued behavioral counseling and stayed out of trouble for six months — he was able to walk away without a criminal record.
The terms of the settlement are not publicly known and likely will not be, as the specifics of such legal agreements are almost always confidential. Gooding’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. Gloria Allred, one of the attorneys representing Jane Doe, declined to comment.
