Cuba Gooding Jr. admits he was a ‘moron’ at time of groping scandal in first interview since avoiding jail: ‘I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone’-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro

Cuba Gooding Jr. has admitted he was a ‘moron’ for being ‘carefree’ in clubs and bars but continues to deny allegations of abuse made against him.

The actor, who most recently played O.J. Simpson in American Crime Story was arrested in 2019 after accusations that he groped a woman’s breast in a bar.

A few months later he was charged with two additional cases of forcible touching after other woman came forward.

Pleading guilty to one of the allegations in April, the 54-year-old also admitted to non-consensual physical contact with two other women, and faced many more accusations.

He has always denied any wrongdoing, but previously apologised for making women feel ‘uncomfortable’.

Now, speaking for the first time after avoiding jail time, Cuba said video footage proved he had not acted inappropriately in two other cases where he was charged.

But, when first asked about his behaviour during that time, he said he was struggling following the death of his father and was ‘trying to numb the pain’.

Cuba Gooding Jr. will speak to Piers Morgan in his first interview after avoiding jail time (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

‘So, I would just cut up, go out and not worry about a thing, you know and it opened me up to a lot of interactions with people in clubs and bars and whatnot’.

He added that while he wasn’t doing drugs, he was drinking and acting like a ‘moron’, but said he didn’t target women.

‘It wasn’t that my behaviour was focused towards women. It was [that] I was carefree in front of groups and crowds of people,’ he said.

‘If you see all that footage of me kissing the waitress, I also kiss male bartenders, I was high fiving people.. So yes, if that is appropriate, yeah.’

Spending a significant amount of time speaking to Piers about the nights and incidents in questions, Cuba accused the District’s Attorney of ‘weaponising the police force’ against him.

‘I know in my truth, I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone… Let’s take the word “my” out,’ he said.

‘There is video footage of the interactions with these women that show the truth of what happened… it is not my truth, it’s the truth.’

Piers has already shown his take-no-prisoners approach will be on hand in this chat (Picture: Vianney Le Caer/Piers Morgan Uncensored/REX/Shutterstock)

While he acknowledged that he had ‘harassed’ one woman, he added that ‘the other charges didn’t happen, or I would have pled guilty to them’.

‘That’s the truth. I hope you understand that.’

But he added that he didn’t ‘want anybody to feel that they’ve been treated inappropriately or harassed by me in any way’.

After complying with his plea arrangement by completing six months of alcohol and behaviour modification counselling, he was able to have his charge minimised and avoided a criminal conviction.

However, he is still facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit, where Hollywood lawyer Gloria Allred is representing a client who has accused Cuba of raping her in a hotel room in 2013.

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Reflecting on everything that has happened to date, Cuba told Piers that he was ‘working on ways’ to improve himself.

‘It’s one of those things where you have to allow every experience in your life. It’s almost like I can’t take the positive, the Oscars and the fame and ignore the negative.

‘It’s all encompassing, of where I am today and who I am today.’

Piers Morgan: Uncensored airs weeknights at 8pm on TalkTV.

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