NEW YORK (AP) — Just as a trial was about to begin, it was announced Tuesday that Cuba Gooding Jr. has settled allegations that he raped a woman in a New York hotel a decade ago, according to court documents. The actor had insisted through lawyers that his encounter with the woman was consensual after the two met at a nearby restaurant.
The trial was set to begin with jury selection in New York federal court as the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star faced allegations that he met the woman in Manhattan, persuaded her to go to a hotel with him, and persuaded her to stop by his room so he could change.
Minutes after the jury was due to assemble in the courtroom, a calendar entry in the official court transcript said, “PROCEEDING OVER.” It added, “Reason for cancellation (with consent): The parties have resolved the matter.”
The woman had remained anonymous until last week, when Judge Paul A. Crotty ruled that she must reveal her name at trial. She said in her lawsuit that Gooding raped her in his room. However, his lawyers insisted that the sex was consensual and that she later boasted to others about having had sex with a celebrity.
The lawsuit sought $6 million in damages. Attorney Gloria Allred, one of several representatives for the woman, declined to comment. Other attorneys, including Gooding’s representatives, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit was filed against a man who authorities say has been accused of sexual misconduct towards more than 30 other women, including groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.
Late last week, the judge appeared to bolster the woman’s position in the trial and settlement hearings by ruling that he would have three women testify that they too had been subjected to sudden sexual assault or attempted sexual assault after seeing Gooding in social situations such as festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
One of the women who wanted to testify at the trial was Kelsey Harbert, who told police Gooding petted her without her consent in 2019 at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square.
Harbert said last year, after Gooding pleaded guilty in a New York state court to sparing him a prison sentence or a criminal record, that never being on trial was “more disappointing than words can express.”
The Associated Press does not typically identify individuals who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they give their permission, as Harbert did.
Gooding, a star of movies like Boyz n the Hood and Radio, was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in April 2022, admitting to violently kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018.
By staying out of trouble and completing six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling, Gooding was allowed to retract his guilty plea and plead guilty to a noncriminal harassment violation, erasing his criminal record and preventing further sentences.