PEOPLE
NEW YORK — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday to forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2018.
The guilty plea came nearly three years after the the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star was arrested in the case that saw several delays as his lawyers sought to get charges reduced or dismissed.
Gooding, 54, accused of violating three different women at various Manhattan night spots in 2018 and 2019, pleaded guilty to just one of the allegations.
He told the judge he “kissed the waitress on her lips” without consent at the LAVO New York nightclub.
Gooding's plea deal calls for no jail time. If he continues counseling for six months, he can withdraw the misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to a lesser violation of harassment.
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a 29-year-old woman told police he squeezed her breast without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square.
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Splish splash, Jennifer Lopez was taking a bath when Ben Affleck asked for her hand in marriage — again.
In Wednesday's edition of Lopez's "On the JLo" newsletter, the "Marry Me" star revealed when, where and how her ex-fiance-turned-current-fiance proposed for the second time.
"Did you ever imagine your biggest dream could come true?" the pop musician wrote.
"Saturday night while at my favorite place on earth (in the bubble bath), my beautiful love got on one knee and proposed. I was taken totally off guard and just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time trying hard to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again, I was quite literally speechless and he said, is that a yes?' I said YES of course that's a YES."
Over the weekend, Lopez shared in another newsletter update that she was engaged to Affleck again, nearly two decades after the power couple canceled their planned wedding in 2003 due to "excessive media attention."
Bennifer first started dating in 2002 after finding love on the set of "Gigli." During their whirlwind relationship, Affleck even famously appeared in the music video for Lopez's "Jenny From the Block." In 2021, the former flames rekindled their romance shortly after Lopez called off her engagement to baseball star Alex Rodriguez and Affleck ended things with "Knives Out" actor Ana de Armas.
"I was smiling so big and tears were coming down my face, feeling so incredibly happy and whole," Lopez continued in her Wednesday newsletter.
"It was nothing fancy at all, but it was the most romantic thing I could've ever imagined...just a quiet Saturday night at home, two people promising to always be there for each other. Two very lucky people. Who got a second chance at true love."
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A temporary restraining order against "Justice League" star Ezra Miller has been dropped by a couple in Hawaii, scrubbing one of a handful of criminal proceedings "The Flash" star has been involved in as of late.
The restraining order, which had been granted on March 31 over harassment and theft claims, was dismissed by a judge on Monday at the couple's request, according to the Associated Press, just before Miller was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
The couple accused Miller of barging into their bedroom and threatening them at a hostel in Hilo, the same Big Island town where the actor had been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and harassment in a separate incident in late March. They said that Miller "burst into the bedroom of the petitioner(s) and threatened" the alleged male victim by "saying 'I will bury you and your s— wife.'"
They also accused Miller of stealing their personal belongings, including a passport and wallet. A judge granted the restraining order petition to prevent future harassment and had set a hearing for Wednesday.
From combined wire services
