Cuba Gooding Jr has claimed that he is an easy target because of past allegations of sexual assault against him, following former Diddy producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Smith’s allegations that he had groped him during an encounter that left him mentally scarred.
The allegations were contained in a lawsuit filed by the producer against the Bad Boy boss in February.
Diddy, 54, was first accused of misconduct and sexual assault by ex-girlfriend Cassie (full name Casandra Ventura) in November 2023. They settled her lawsuit within one day as Diddy continually denied the allegations.
Amid the lawsuit, multiple other individuals came forward with similar stories of alleged misconduct by Diddy including Lil Rod, who sued Diddy for $30 million in damages in February, claiming the music mogul drugged, threatened, and sexually assaulted him for more than a year.
“That’s the craziest thing,” he said on the PBD podcast. “I wake up in the morning. I turn on the ‘Today’ show [and hear] ‘Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. …’ Excuse me! You pull me into this?”
Gooding claimed he had only hung out with Diddy “two or three times,” including New Year’s Eve when he listened to music on Diddy’s yacht with Smith.
As part of the evidence, Lil Rod reportedly submitted an image of himself and the Oscar-winning actor, and another photo of Gooding speaking with Diddy. His lawyer argues that Diddy “failed to step in and stop” Gooding from “sexually assaulting” the producer.
Gooding expressed his belief that Lil Rod was only suing Diddy for financial gain.
“That was it, but this guy who’s suing him, is going after the money … I’m sure,” Gooding said. “And by the way, I don’t know P. Diddy’s life. I don’t know what he’s going through. We were acquaintances,” he insisted.
Gooding also said he thought Lil Rod only dropped his name because of “the cases I’ve already went through.” Gooding had faced a string of sexual assault allegations in the last few years.