cuba gooding jr.
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Source: Jonny Birch / Getty / Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba Gooding Jr. is finally addressing those eyebrow-raising allegations of sexual assault by producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Smith.
Page Six reports that Cuba Gooding Jr. revealed he was stunned to learn that his name was pulled in the whirlwind of accusations currently swirling around Diddy, aka The Diddler.
The actor’s name was part of Lil Rod’s lawsuit, which he filed against the Bad Boy general in February. In it, he claimed that while he attended one of Diddy’s infamous parties, he was drugged and raped, and touched inappropriately by the music mogul, all claims Diddy has denied.
The producer who worked on Diddy’s latest album also claimed that Gooding Jr. groped him, and now the Hollywood actor is responding to those allegations, claiming Jones is looking for money and that he is an easy target because of past claims made against him.
Per Page Six:
In a new interview with Patrick Bet-David’s “The PBD Podcast,” Gooding revealed he was shocked to learn that he was named in Smith’s lawsuit against Combs.
“That’s the craziest thing,” he said. “I wake up in the morning. I turn on the ‘Today’ show [and hear] ‘Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. …’ Excuse me! You pull me into this?”
In fact, Gooding claims he’s only hung out with Diddy “two or three times,” including New Year’s Eve, when he listened to music on Diddy’s yacht with Smith.
“That was it, but this guy who’s suing him, is going after the money … I’m sure,” Gooding said. “And by the way, I don’t know P. Diddy’s life. I don’t know what he’s going through.
“We were acquaintances,” he insisted.
He said they first met in 2019 or 2020, when Gooding’s girlfriend, Claudine De Niro, introduced him to Diddy.
Gooding says he thinks Smith only dropped his name because of “the cases I’ve already went through.”
The Jerry Maguire star pleaded guilty to a forcible touching misdemeanor charge in 2022 for locking lips with a woman at a nightclub in 2018 without her consent.
As for Diddy, he’s been on the quiet front but most recently posted a video of himself on Instagram doing things like praying and standing on a beach with the wind whipping, insinuating that he is enduring the storm with one of Bishop T.D. Jakes’ sermons serving as the soundtrack.
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Source: Stephen Butler / Getty / Cuba Gooding Jr.
As the saga continues for Diddy, aka Sean Combs, a lawsuit filed against him now lists problematic actor Cuba Gooding Jr. as a co-defendant.
The LA Times reports Cuba Gooding Jr. has been named in a lawsuit against the Diddler brought by producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Joens, who worked on Sean Combs’ highly-anticipated The Love Album: Off The Grid.
According to the lawsuit like Diddy, the Jerry Maguire star got too handsy with the music producer, who feared Diddy was “grooming him” to pass him off to friends.
In an email sent to the LA Times, Rod’s attorney Tyrone Blackburn confirmed he filed the second amended complaint to the initial lawsuit on the same day the embattled music mogul’s homes were raided by Homeland Security as part of an investigation into alleged sex trafficking, which also led to his alleged “drug mule” being taken in.
Per The LA Times:
“Defendant Cuba Gooding, Jr. was a relevant actor who has fallen from grace due to several sexual assault lawsuits and a recent guilty plea for sexual assault,” said the complaint, which was obtained Tuesday by The Times. In it, Blackburn noted that his client — a Chicago-born producer, who produced nine songs on Diddy’s 2023 album — believed Combs “was grooming him to pass him off to his friends” and that “fear became reality” when Combs introduced him to Gooding on his yacht in January 2023.
Jones accused Gooding of fondling his “legs, upper inner thighs near his groin, the small of his back near his buttocks, and his shoulders,” which made the producer “extremely uncomfortable.” Although he allegedly rejected the actor’s advances, Gooding “did not stop until Mr. Jones forcibly pushed him away.”
“As the owner of the property, Mr. Combs had a duty to protect Mr. Jones from the harm he suffered at the hands of Cuba Gooding Jr. Mr. Combs breached his duty when he failed to stop Cuba Gooding Jr from sexually assaulting Mr. Jones,” the complaint said. “In furtherance of this breach, Mr. Combs encouraged Cuba Gooding Jr to continue his assault on Mr. Jones when he said that Cuba Gooding Jr should privately get to know Mr. Jones better. Mr. Jones has suffered immensely because of Mr. Combs’s intentional breach of his duty to him.”
Other names in the lawsuit include Diddy, his son Justin Combs, Universal Music Group chief executive Lucian Charles Grainge, UMG, former Motown Records executive Habtemariam and Motown Records, Love Records, Combs Global Enterprises, ABC Corporations, Diddy’s chief of staff Kristina “KK” Khorram and several John and Jane Does.
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