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(NewsNation) — The exotic dancer known as “The Punisher,” who was hired by Sean “Diddy” Combs to participate in “Freak Offs,” says he’s mortified to learn a sexual encounter may have been videotaped and shown to jurors in Diddy’s racketeering and sex trafficking trial.
Sharay Hayes previously testified he was hired up to 12 times to be part of Diddy’s highly orchestrated sex marathons more than a decade ago. Hayes said he learned this week jurors viewed an encounter from October 2012 that coincided with one of his “Freak Off” stints.
“I’m really kind of blown away at this possibility that there could be a video of me circulating,” Sharay Hayes, who uses the stage name “The Punisher,” told “Banfield” on Thursday. “I know it’s evidence, right? But somehow, these things have a way of ending up in the public.”
Hayes said he thought the “Freak Offs” were private encounters because his own phone was confiscated before he participated in sex with Diddy’s then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Federal prosecutors say the orgies were a centerpiece Diddy’s criminal enterprise, which allegedly involved coercing and threatening employees and women he was dating. Hayes has previously said the “Freak Offs” appeared to him to be consensual fantasy role-playing by Diddy and Ventura and began with baby oil application before culminating in sexual acts.
He said Diddy’s trial — and the prospect that he was filmed — occurs as he’s trying to put that era behind him and change the narrative of his life.
“There’s that saying of, ‘When it rains, it pours,’” Hayes said. “I’ve been doing my best to do some sort of damage control to kind of circumvent the bad decision that I made all those years ago.”
Hayes stopped short of saying he would want to file suit if he was recorded during the “Freak Offs” because it would bring more unwanted attention on himself.
Legal analyst Mark Eiglarsh says he doesn’t think “The Punisher” would have much of a case if it was brought before a jury, even if he had an expectation of privacy.
“I don’t think any jury in this universe will find that this does anything other than enhance the business that he’s in,” he said of Hayes. “I’m not into ‘Freak Offs.’ I’m happily married 25 years. But if I was, I’d want a guy named ‘The Punisher’ there, and I think most people would feel that way.”
Hayes has offered a public apology to Ventura, who testified Diddy pressured her into participating in the “Freak Offs” and physically abused her.