Cuba Gooding Jr. Stops By

August 3, 2006
Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Cuba Gooding Jr. came into the studio and admitted he didn’t recognize Artie, even though the two spent 16 hours together in 2002 when they filmed “Boat Trip.” When Howard asked Cuba what he thought about Mel Gibson, Cuba noted he felt Mel’s first mistake was getting behind the wheel when he was drunk, and his second was the anti-Semitic remarks he made. Cuba also noted because he was the victim of racism on a number of occasions himself, he felt any type of derogatory remarks were bad.

Even though he won an Academy Award for his role as Rod Tidwell in “Jerry Maguire,” Cuba reported he didn’t get another acting job until almost a year after that film came out. Cuba went on to say directors like Oliver Stone and Michael Mann have refused to put him in their movies because they associated him with the line “show me the money” from “Jerry Maguire,” a catchphrase which he said has hampered his career as much as it has helped it.

Knowing When To Get Excited

Cuba said he has been with the woman who became his wife since 1988, although he acknowledged he was with other women during the first three years of their relationship because they broke up constantly. Although Howard didn’t think he was telling the truth, Cuba went on to say he never got excited during any of the love scenes he shot in his movies, including the ones he filmed with Beyonce. Cuba then stood up and threatened to show Howard his penis, before joking he was “still drunk from last night.”

Fatherly Lessons To His Son

Cuba brought up the fact that his father left his mother when he was young and he and his siblings spent some of their childhood growing up homeless because of it. However, Cuba added his father got in touch with him after he starred in “Boyz ‘n the Hood,” and has since remarried his mother. Cuba also pointed out that, as difficult as it was growing up without his father in his life, it taught him just how important family was, and it was because of his father that he vowed to never be away from his wife and children for more than three weeks, regardless of where he was filming.

After Artie retold his story about how Tom Cruise yelled at him on the set of “Jerry Maguire,” a movie from which Artie’s scene was cut, Cuba acknowledged his father once asked Tom if he was gay, but wouldn’t comment on whether or not that was the reason the two haven’t worked together since “Jerry Maguire.” Cuba then noted he didn’t blame Tom for his reaction to Artie when he yelled at him, explaining he thought Tom was acting in the moment while the filming was taking place.

Cuba announced he was in a new movie, “Shadowboxer,” in which he plays a guy trained to become an assassin by the woman who raised him. Cuba also reported, though, “Shadowboxer” wasn’t just an action film, and that it dealt with issues like incest and homosexuality as well. Howard acknowledged he liked what he was hearing about “Shadowboxer,” and promised Cuba he’d see it.