Cuba Gooding Jr. insists he is ‘100% changed’ since admitting to forcibly touching woman

Cuba Gooding Jr. sat down for an interview for the first time since pleading guilty to one count of forcible touching.

In an interview on Piers Morgan UncensoredGooding, 54, insisted he had ‘changed 100%’ since admitting to the charges.

“It’s funny too because I don’t want this to stop me from connecting with my fans,” he added. “I don’t want this to deter me from connecting with the gregarious behavior in terms of the positive energy I have.” I’m ten times more aware of what’s going on around me and I just use that as my focus.”

‘100% Changed’: Cuba Gooding Jr. sat down for an interview for the first time since pleading guilty to one count of forcible touching

Piers also mentioned that his troubled past could not excuse his behavior.

“The answer to that is you have to live your truth, and I know in my truth that it was not my intention to disrespect anyone,” Cuba responded before being cut off by Piers, who voiced his dismay at the term “my truth.’

“Let’s take out the word ‘my’. There is video footage of the interactions with these women showing the truth of what happened,” Gooding Jr. continued.

“And it’s funny, so so many people came up to me on the street and said, ‘I support you, I’ve seen the video’… but the one thing I found that really hit me, and I said, ‘Okay , now it’s time for me to mention this, to talk about it.”

Changed person: In an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Gooding insisted he had ‘changed 100%’ since admitting to the allegations

Connecting: “It’s funny too, because I don’t want this to stop me from connecting with my fans,” Gooding said

Basically, I started this beloved career, and people were all like, “Oh his energy!” Nothing has changed for me! But I do have to talk about what you just said, about “my.” It’s not my truth. It’s the truth.’

Last month, Gooding Jr. back to court in Manhattan to meet the woman he groped in a nightclub in 2019 as she read a victim impact statement to the court.

Gooding Jr. previously pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching. The charges related to a 2018 incident involving a waitress at TAO in New York City. That woman was not in court on Thursday, but another victim, Kelsey Harbert, was.

On camera: “There is video footage of the interactions with these women that showed the truth of what happened,” Gooding Jr. admitted. please

Cuba returned to court in Manhattan last month to meet the woman he groped in a nightclub in 2019 as she read a victim impact statement to the court

Kelsey was the woman whose chest he fondled at New York City’s Magic Hour Rooftop in 2019.

He was never charged for that incident — a decision that outraged Harbert, who told reporters Thursday that she was deprived of justice.

The case is all but closed, but the parties returned to court to give Harbert the opportunity to read her victim impact statement.

Kelsey Harbert with her attorney Gloria Allred. She said he escaped justice

After she reported the incident to the police, Gooding Jr. charged with a range of other felonies in both LA and New York, including forced kissing and touching waitresses.

He has always denied wrongdoing and stressed that all actions were consensual, but apologized for making women feel “uncomfortable”.

The plea deal was reached in April of this year.

If he complies with the terms, the charge will be reduced to an offense and his criminal record will be erased.

Gooding Jr. appears in New York criminal court for his sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2019

Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching for the 2018 incident. The other charges were dropped

Gooding Jr., 54, will now have his criminal record expunged

Harbert says it’s too soft a deal for Gooding Jr.

Gooding Jr. was facing six allegations of groping over three alleged incidents that took place in 2018 and 2019.

One of the women claimed that Gooding pinched her buttocks.

Another said he squeezed her chest on the roof of New York City’s Magic Hour last June.

A woman claimed he raped her in a hotel room in 2013. He has not been charged with that claim.