Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines of 2/27
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Cuba Gooding Jr.'s rape lawsuit trial date has been scheduled for the first week of June 2023.
Judge Paul Austin Crotty made the ruling in a Manhattan courtroom Monday afternoon nearly three years after the complaint was filed by "Jane Doe" in the Southern District of New York.
While the plaintiff (Jane Doe) asked for a 2024 date due to scheduling conflicts, the defense (Gooding Jr.) was ready to move the trial ahead for this summer.
"We’re not putting it off for a year," Crotty said before ruling.
CUBA GOODING JR. ACCUSED OF 2013 RAPE IN CIVIL LAWSUIT
Cuba Gooding Jr.'s rape lawsuit trial will head to court in the summer of 2023. (David Dee Delgado)
The "Men of Honor" actor was not in court for the civil case decision.
Cuba's counsel, Gary Becker, said they have at least three witnesses that say "Jane Doe" went back to the bar and bragged about having had consensual sexual relations with a celebrity.
CUBA GOODING JR. COULD BE ON THE HOOK FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AFTER IGNORING RAPE LAWSUIT
Outside the courtroom, defense attorney Edward Sapone told reporters that his client is feeling "very confident" and "has lots of faith in this civil justice system." He added that they're eager for their "day in court."
Gooding Jr.'s representative and "Jane Doe's" counsel did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comments.
Cuba Gooding Jr. faced groping allegations in 2019 following an alleged incident at a bar in New York. He denied the claims. (Mark Lennihan)
The incident allegedly occurred after "Jane Doe" met Gooding Jr. in the VIP section of a lounge in Greenwich Village in August 2013. She claimed in court documents that he invited her back to the Mercer Hotel so that he could change clothes before heading to another bar.
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Once in the room, he was "completely naked" and "forcibly and without consent" put one hand in her top while placing another hand up her dress. "Jane Doe" claimed to repeatedly tell Gooding Jr. "no," but he did not stop his advances and then raped her.
The "Boyz n the Hood" star recently completed the terms of a no-jail plea deal in a separate sex abuse case stemming from an alleged 2018 incident at a nightclub in which he kissed a woman against her will.
Cuba Gooding Jr. struck a plea deal in a sex abuse case last year which allowed him to keep a clear criminal record. (Johnny Nunez)
Initially filed as a misdemeanor plea, the charge was downgraded to second-degree harassment. Cuba pled guilty to a harassment violation after completing six months of alcohol and behavior modification counseling.
Had he not agreed to the plea deal, Gooding Jr. could have spent one year in jail.
He also apologized for two other instances of non-consensual physical contact where he allegedly squeezed a 30-year-old woman's breast at a hotel in 2019, and pinched a woman's behind at a club in October 2018.
At one point, Gooding Jr. was accused of sexual misconduct allegations by more than seven women.
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