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Culture June 14, 2019

Cuba Gooding Jr. charged with misdemeanor forcible touching

WATCH: Cuba Gooding Jr. turns himself in to the NYPD

Cuba Gooding Jr. was formally charged Thursday with misdemeanor forcible touching stemming from an alleged groping of a woman in a Manhattan bar last Sunday.

He pleaded not guilty in Manhattan criminal court.

(MORE: Cuba Gooding Jr. accused of groping a woman in New York City)

The Oscar winner's attorney, Mark Jay Heller, has said that his client didn't do anything wrong.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Heller said Thursday. “It’s clearly a case of overzealous policing and based on the video there will be total exoneration here.”

Cuba Gooding Jr. leaves criminal court Thursday, June 13, 2019, in New York. A 29-year-old woman told police the 51-year-old Gooding grabbed her breast while he was intoxicated around 11:15 p.m. Sunday. Gooding denies the allegations. (AP Photo/Frank
The Associated Press
Cuba Gooding Jr. leaves criminal court Thursday, June 13, 2019, in New York. A 29-year-old woman told police the 51-year-old Gooding grabbed her breast while he was intoxicated around 11:15 p.m. Sunday. Gooding denies the allegations. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Earlier this week, an unnamed woman told police that Gooding, 51, grabbed her breast at a New York City club.

"I have been hopeful, after I spoke to various witnesses and viewed the video, that the prosecutor would vet this case out and investigate it a lot more then apparently was done," Heller said in an interview with ABC News.

(MORE: Cuba Gooding Jr. said he always wanted to be in show business)

Heller accused the woman of stalking Gooding.

"When I viewed the video and spoke to actual eyewitnesses, it was very clear and apparent the lady who made false charges was stalking Mr. Gooding," he said of the night in the club. "She followed him all over the club, invaded his privacy and she was very persistent in pursuing some type of interaction with him."

PHOTO: Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. arrives at the New York Police Department's Special Victim's Unit, June 13, 2019.
Mark Lennihan/AP
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. arrives at the New York Police Department's Special Victim's Unit, June 13, 2019.

The new charge is not the first time that the "People vs. O.J. Simpson" star has been accused of touching a woman inappropriately.

In 2012, a group of women claimed he fondled them in a New Mexico bar, but Gooding told TMZ at the time that the allegations were "b-------." No charges were ever filed in that case.

That same year, he was also accused of pushing a female bartender in New Orleans and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The bartender later dropped all charges, according to reporting from CNN.