Exotic Dancer, Who Testified During Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Trial, Weighs in on His Sentencing: 'There's a Genuine Remorse' By Charlotte Phillipp

The male exotic dancer who testified at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ high-profile federal sex crimes trial is opening up about the music mogul’s 50-month prison sentence.

Sharay Hayes, also known as “The Punisher,” spoke to TMZ and the Daily Mail after Combs, 55, was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday, Oct. 3, following a nearly two-month federal trial that ended with him being convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution in July. (He was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges.)

Hayes told the outlets that although he initially believed that Combs should have been sentenced to time served — and still believes a four-year sentence was an overreach — he changed his mind after Judge Arun Subramanian shared his reasoning for the prison sentence, which also included five years of supervised release and a $500,000 fine, the maximum allowable fine.

“I don’t want to invalidate anything the victims went through, and I have been thinking of [Casandra “Cassie” Ventura],” he said, sharing that he was glad the victims received justice. “This is a man who did terrible things.”

“But the world is so harsh because everybody thinks his remorse is not real. This guy’s life — his fall from grace — is a devastating circumstance,” Hayes continued to the Daily Mail. “I have a ton of empathy, and I actually feel very sorry for the guy.”

“I believe there’s a genuine remorse,” he then added of Combs, noting that he believed the music mogul’s time in jail and public attention were enough.

Hayes also opened up about the emotional scene in the courtroom after Combs was sentenced, as some of his children who were present began to cry.

“Hey, look, I’m a grown, tough guy named ‘The Punisher’ and even I was about to ask for some tissues,” Hayes said. “It was very, very hard. Felt very heart-wrenching. It’s very eye-opening and it’s making me look at this situation from a different lens.”

Hayes also told the Daily Mail that he wanted to be in the courtroom during Combs’ sentencing for his own “closure” after testifying in May. At the time, he told the jury that he was paid $800 to stage a “sexy scene” for Combs and his then-girlfriend Ventura — while avoiding eye contact with the music mogul.

He also testified that Ventura handed him a “sack of money” with $800 inside and told him to “create a sexy scene of me and her applying baby oil on each other and create a sexy environment that her husband would come upon.”

Ventura also gave four days of emotional testimony, alleging she was physically, sexually and verbally abused by Combs during their relationship that began in 2006 and ended in 2018. 

The dancer — who authored the book In Search of Freezer Meat, which includes a six-page description of his encounters with the hip-hop mogul and Ventura, though they are not explicitly named — said he was “hiding in the house” after his testimony due to this attention on the case.

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“Although I’ve done a bunch of interviews to try to create a different narrative about myself, I think subconsciously I just felt like, ‘Man, I’m in the middle of all this stuff,’ ” Hayes told the Daily Mail. “It wasn’t easy.”

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“But coming out here in public, and I have to say, the majority of people are responding to me positively. There are some people that, you know, turn their face up at me when they see me or whatever. It is what it is,” he added. “But I think I needed to just experience this head-on because it is coming to a place of closure for myself.”

Combs was convicted in July on transportation to engage in prostitution charges, but was acquitted of the more serious charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering.  

Prior to being sentenced, Combs apologized to his former girlfriends, friends and family, calling his behavior “disgusting, shameful and sick.” He said that his children “deserve better,” and that he’d failed his mother as a son.

At Combs’ sentencing on Oct. 3, Judge Subramanian said a lengthy sentence was necessary “to send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.”

The judge discussed Combs’ so-called “freak-offs” — the choreographed sex parties he orchestrated — and said he rejected the defense’s characterization of them as “intimate consensual experiences or just a sex, drugs and rock-and-roll story.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.