Charges dropped against Cuba Gooding Jr.

By Cindy Clark, USA TODAY

Posted August 4, 2012

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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. attends The Friars Club and Friars Foundation Honor of Tom Cruise at The Waldorf=Astoria on June 12, 2012 in New York. (Credit: By Larry Busacca, Getty Images)

The case involving Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and a bar dust-up in New Orleans' French Quarter is over. Misdemeanor battery charges have been officially dropped against the actor after an arraignment hearing was held Friday but there was no one to press the complaint, says city spokesman Ryan Berni. "This ends the case," Berni said.

The Times-Picayunereports that Gooding, 44, did not appear at the brief hearing before Judge Sean Early. The hearing came two days after an Old Absinthe House employee said she was dropping charges against him.

Police say the bartender told them that Gooding became upset after patrons started asking him for photos. She claims she asked Gooding to calm down, and he pushed her.

He has been in New Orleans filming The Butler, a movie about a White House butler who serves eight American presidents.