Cuba Gooding Jr. has been hit with a new allegation of sexual assault. Less than a week after Gooding surrendered to police over accusations of groping a woman at a New York City bar, comedian and writer Claudia Oshry said that the 51-year-old actor had forcibly touched her in 2012, when she was 16. She first discussed her allegations on an episode of her The Morning Toast podcast, saying:
“I don’t know if I’ve ever considered myself to be, like, a victim of sexual assault, because I’m not. There are people who are real victims that I would never compare myself to them. But yes, when I was in high school — I was fucking 16 years old — Cuba Gooding Jr. put his finger up my butt, and I felt wild. Like, I felt — I don’t even know what the right word is. And now it’s just become, like, a part of who I am. It’s a part of my story.”
Oshry later elaborated on her claim to Entertainment Tonight on Monday, saying, “I was a senior in high school in 2012. I was at a club called SL with a bunch of my friends. We were all at a table when I felt someone inappropriately touching me. I turn around and Cuba Gooding Jr. is there hysterically laughing…. I was genuinely confused. Nobody had ever touched me without my consent before.”
Gooding’s lawyer, Mark Heller, denied Oshry’s claim on Monday. “Cuba says this incident never happened and he has no recollection of this individual either,” Heller said.
Last week, Gooding was charged with forcible touching and sexual abuse stemming from a separate allegation. An unnamed 29-year-old woman told police that the actor groped her without her consent at a rooftop bar in New York City in June. The woman told authorities she thought Gooding was intoxicated at the time of the alleged assault. TMZ released video footage of the incident, which appeared to confirm her allegations. Gooding Jr. pleaded not guilty.
On her podcast, Oshry, who is known for her social-media account Girl With No Job, praised Gooding’s anonymous accuser for publicizing her allegations. “Good on this girl,” Oshry said. “Because how many fucking people is he going to grope before one of them calls the police? Mine was ten years ago!” Oshry continued, “I know why I didn’t go to the police, because I was like a kid who was 16, underage at a club, and I thought I was going to get in trouble for being in the club. So I just shut my mouth.”