Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has been added as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr. against Sean “Diddy” Combs. Jones, a former employee of Combs, accuses both Combs and Gooding of sexual assault in a civil complaint filed in New York federal court.
In the amended version of the lawsuit filed on Monday, Gooding is implicated for allegedly groping and fondling Jones during an incident on a yacht rented by Combs in January 2023. Jones claims that Combs introduced him to Gooding and implied that Gooding should “get to know” Jones better, leading Jones to believe that Combs was grooming him to be passed off to his friends. Despite Jones’s discomfort and rejection of Gooding’s advances, the actor allegedly persisted until Jones forcibly pushed him away.
Gooding’s attorney has yet to respond to requests for comment on the matter.
The lawsuit also names other individuals, including Combs’ son Justin, his chief of staff Kristina Khorram, and Universal Music Group CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, as defendants.
Combs’s lawyer, Shawn Holley, previously denounced Jones as a liar seeking financial gain through baseless accusations. Holley asserted that the claims made by Jones were fabricated and pledged to address them in court.
The producer was “extremely uncomfortable,” according to the complaint, so Jones “rejected his advances” but Gooding allegedly “did not stop until Mr. Jones forcibly pushed him away.”
Additionally, federal agents raided two of Combs’s properties this week as part of an ongoing investigation, though specific details were not disclosed.
Gooding has faced prior sexual assault allegations, including pleading guilty to forcibly touching a woman in 2018 and settling a lawsuit in 2023.
