Cuba Gooding Jr., the actress who was accused by more than 20 women of forcibly groping or kissing them in encounters dating back more than two decades, pleaded guilty in Manhattan on Wednesday to a charge of forced touching.

Mr. Gooding faced criminal trial for unwanted sexual touching of three women in Manhattan restaurants and clubs in 2018 and 2019. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office asked a judge to admit 19 other women she said had come forward as witnesses. Mr. Gooding is accused of such behaviour.

The attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing in October 2019 that “Mr Gooding’s previous actions demonstrate that his contacts with her intimate members were intentional rather than accidental, and that he is not at fault for their disapproval.”

The judge eventually ruled that two additional defendants can testify against Mr. Gooding at trial, which would have allowed prosecutors to argue in court that Mr. Gooding had demonstrated similar behavior for years.

Mr. Gooding appeared before Judge Curtis Farber of the Manhattan Supreme Court, to present his argument.

“I apologize for making anyone feel inappropriately touched,” Mr. Gooding said in court.

It was Mr. Gooding Originally charged Regarding a get-together on the night of June 9, 2019, during a party at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar, an expensive lounge at the Moxy Hotel NYC Times Square in Manhattan. The defendant said Mr. Gooding put his hand on her chest without her consent and squeezed it, according to a criminal complaint.

He was later charged women’s ass pinching At a Manhattan nightclub in October 2018 and at the September 2018 incident at Lavo, an Italian restaurant on East 58th Street.

Mr. Gooding, a native of the Bronx, achieved his first major success as he starred in the 1991 film “Boys N HoodHe won an Academy Award in 1997 for his supporting role in Jerry Maguire. He played OJ Simpson in the 2016 TV series “The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.”