Cuba Gooding Jr. is facing a lot of backlash from fans online after he was seen lifting Sarah Paulson's dress while onstage at PaleyFest this past weekend. The two actors were part of an American Horror Story panel, but audience members seemed more horrified at the way Cuba treated his costar than any of the show's details.
According to photos circulating social media, Sarah got up towards the beginning of the event to greet Kathy Bates as she joined the cast onstage. As she stood, Cuba appeared to grab the hem of her dress from behind, lifting it straight up in the air. Sarah seemed to laugh it off, but many people online are pointing out that there's really nothing funny about this at all.
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To be clear, what happened to Sarah was not funny – even if she laughed and brushed it off in the moment. Women are frequently in the position of feeling pressured to laugh at extremely uncomfortable situations (just look at what happened last week when Cara Delevingne was pushed towards talking about about a personal sexual experience while on TV). To be clear, no woman should ever feel like they need to minimize a situation that is blatantly disrespectful.
Some might argue that this was "just a joke" or a "playful moment" between two friends (after all, Cuba and Sarah have worked together for a while, and it's easy to assume that they might be close pals by now). But regardless of their relationship, exposing a woman's body without her consent is not only inappropriate, but it's also incredibly disrespectful. At the very least, he owes his costar a massive apology.
Related: Sarah Paulson Wants to Play Donald Trump on American Horror Story
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