Cuba Gooding Jr. is accused of raping a woman twice after breaking into his room in a Manhattan hotel in 2013, in a lawsuit filed against the actor on Tuesday.
The new allegations go significantly further than a series of allegations that Mr Gooding has subjected women to unwanted sexual harassment, three of which are the basis of an upcoming criminal case. Of the more than 20 charges discussed in court documents, none of them have been raped so far.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed by an anonymous woman named Jane Doe, she first met Mr Gooding at a restaurant in Greenwich Village. He invited her and a friend over for a drink at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo. There, Mr Gooding started taking the woman to his room on the fifth floor, where he said he needed to change his clothes soon, the court said.
When the woman tried to leave the room, the court said, Mr. Gooding blocked her way out and eventually shoved her on the bed and raped her. Afterwards, when the woman tried to leave, Mr. Gooding her again, according to the complaint.
She told Mr. Gooding many times “no”, the court said, but he did not stop. One of the lawyers representing the woman is Gloria Allred, the lawyer for women’s rights for many years.
Mr Gooding’s lawyer, Mark J. Heller, said the allegations in the trial were “completely false and defamatory”, pointing out that they had never resulted in criminal charges in the past seven years.
Ms. Allred declined to comment on whether the district attorney’s office or the New York Police Department was informed of her client’s allegations or investigated her. A spokeswoman for the police department also declined to comment.
The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Gooding violated a city law aimed at protecting victims who are targeted because of their gender and causing the plaintiff both physical and emotional injury.
Groping accusations against Mr. Gooding was first made public last year when a woman told police that Mr. Gooding was squeezing her chest at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar in the Moxy NYC Times Square hotel on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. Thereupon, two other women came forward with claims that resulted in criminal charges, and Mr Gooding is currently facing three sets of charges.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had publicly documented the claims of an additional 19 women with allegations of unwanted sexual contact against Mr. Gooding, and asked that the jury be allowed to testify to these women to adopt a pattern of conduct demonstrate. A judge ordered that two of the women be allowed to testify.
At a court hearing last week, an assistant district attorney, Jenna Long, said the total number of women who came forward with accusations against Mr Gooding had risen to 30.
His trial is due to begin in April, but the coronavirus pandemic stopped the proceedings.
Last year, Mr Gooding was sued by one of the women he is accused of dating, Natasha Ashworth. She accused Mr. Gooding of pinching her buttocks while serving him at a nightclub in Manhattan.
