Cuba Gooding Jr. has been mentioned in the latest sexual assault suit filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The latest sexual assault accusation against the rap music mogul is the fifth in the last four months, as The Wrap pointed out. This lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a producer who worked with Combs on his latest album, “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” from September 2022 through November 2023.
Per NBC News, the producer claims he, “lived and traveled with Combs” throughout that time period, and has hours of recorded audio and video of Combs, his staff and others at that time “engaging in serious illegal activity.” Jones is accusing Combs of “sexually harassing, drugging and threatening” him, as well as forcing him to “procure sex workers” and “engage in unwelcomed sex acts with them.”
In the suit, the plaintiff specifically mentions Gooding, alleging that Combs was grooming Jones to “pass him off to his friends,” Gooding among them. While the actor is not named as a defendant in the suit, he alleges that Gooding “groped and fondled him non-consensually.”
The lawsuit details that “Mr. Combs had dominion and control over the actions of Cuba Gooding Jr and failed to step in and stop Cuba Gooding Jr from sexually assaulting Mr. Jones.”
The suit also alleges Jones shared his concerns with Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, who allegedly dismissed Combs’ actions as “friendly horseplay” and ways he was showing Jones how much he “liked” him.
Jones specifically names Combs, his adult son Justin, Khorram, Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge and the former CEO of Motown Records, Ethiopia Habtemariam. He is reportedly seeking $30 million and a jury trial.
Combs’ attorney, Shawn Holley, called Jones’ claims “reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen” in a statement to NBC News.
“We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls,” the statement reads. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
Representatives for Combs and Gooding did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
As theGrio previously reported, this is one of several sexual assault allegations made against Diddy since last fall. The lawsuits have certainly affected his businesses and career. Since last fall, plans for Combs’ reality TV series at Hulu were scrapped, and he stepped down as chairman of Revolt TV.
Gooding has faced multiple sexual assault allegations in recent years. In 2022, the “Jerry Maguire” actor pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching in a sexual misconduct case against him, and last year, he settled a sexual abuse case just as the trial was set to begin. In November, the actor once again was sued for sexual abuse, with two women claiming he “sexually assaulted and battered” them in separate instances in 2018 and 2019.
Never miss a beat: Get our daily stories straight to your inbox with theGrio’s newsletter.