Cuba Gooding Jr.’s lawyer has launched a #NotMe movement after a Manhattan judge decided she wouldn’t dismiss his upcoming sex abuse case.
The actor’s attorney is walking a fine line by throwing his alternative take of the #MeToo movement into the mix after a woman accused him of getting too handsy and groping her in New York nightclub in June.
—Cuba Gooding Jr. accused of putting his hands where they didn’t belong, report says—
On Wednesday, Judge Phyllis Chu refused to drop the misdemeanor forcible touching and sex abuse charges against Gooding Jr for allegedly squeezing a woman’s breasts inside the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar. Gooding Jr’s team filed a motion asking for the charge to be dismissed, Page Six reports.
Heller wrote in her decision Gooding hasn’t proved why the case shouldn’t move forward.
“The court finds the defendant has failed to meet his burden of setting forth compelling reasons to warrant dismissal.”
The judge did however contend that the accuser has “certain mental characteristics” that make it more likely for her to fudge the truth.
And it hasn’t helped that the accuser wrote on Facebook previously her “brain was one big fat mess…Some people are scared of others and want nothing more to be invisible. I am not that type of person. I am starving to be seen.”
Gooding Jr’s attorney Mark Heller announced that he has activated the “Not Me Movement” in response.
“After fifty years of defending innocent, falsely accused and unfairly prosecuted defendants, I am igniting the ‘Not Me Movement’ (#NotMe),’ ” Gooding Jr’s attorney Mark Heller announced.
—Atlanta hotel guest dies after contracting disease that has affected up to 73 other guests—
Heller has been scolded by Manhattan prosecutors for victim shaming. Gooding Jr has maintained his innocence.
At issue is video of the Oscar winner which appears to show Gooding Jr. motion his hard toward a woman’s chest and then pull back before kissing her hand.
“I am totally confident that when a jury of Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s peers assess all of the exculpatory evidence in this case, that he will be totally exonerated,” Heller said. “His case will be a hallmark example for the #NotMe Movement.”
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