Exotic Dancer 'The Punisher' Says He Agrees With Verdict in Diddy Trial

TMZ

Sharay Hayes -- the exotic male dancer nicknamed "The Punisher" who testified during Diddy's trial -- says he thinks the jury made the right call on Diddy's verdict ... one he thinks he might have helped them arrive at.

Transcript

00:00I think the verdict is actually the right one, in my opinion. I always saw it as more of a domestic

00:10violence scenario. And, you know, me even taking myself out of the situation and just trying to

00:19look at it from an individual like a juror would, when you see this long-term loving relationship

00:25with, this is his girlfriend, right? And then also multiple scenarios where the sexual lifestyle

00:34was consented, you know? It was just hard for me to shift from, this is just a domestic violence

00:42type of, different type of relationship to a criminal sex trafficking scenario.

00:48Do you think, like, you testifying, you know, possibly helped Diddy's case?

00:57I do. I feel like if the deciding factor of the scenario of the sex trafficking charges was going

01:04to be based on consent, or lack thereof, I definitely feel like my testimony could have possibly

01:11influenced the way it was viewed by our jurors. Because the coercion part of it is obviously the

01:21main factor if you're going to prove that, right? So, you know, in regards to her testimony,

01:27in regards to her situation directly, with me being one of the two guys that they brought up to

01:32corroborate, obviously my experience would not lead you to believe somebody was sex trafficking.

01:39I think there's a fine line between, because the domestic violence, right? The domestic violence

01:44is undeniable, you know? And I think, if anything, I think they made a mistake. I think they

01:52underestimated the actual loving relationship that persisted, right? Because in the closing arguments,

02:01it's clear, right? The stories that were being told, one, he's this kingpin that doesn't get no,

02:08and it's just, this is how I do. And the defense told a story of, this is a complicated

02:14love story relationship. And when you see the expressions in the text messages, outside of the

02:21sex, of love and care or whatever, it's going to be hard for anyone, including the jury and anybody

02:28really seeing in totality, and not just see this as a relationship. Dysfunctional, but a relationship.

02:34Do you at all feel, you know, bad for someone like Cassie or Jane, the other woman who testified

02:40that was dating Diddy? Oh, I feel terrible for both of them, and not even necessarily associated

02:47with the charges, right? You know, women in general deal with a lot of shame associated with their

02:54sexuality, right? So to have two women have to pretty much broadcast their sex lives to the world

03:02and be under the scrutiny of that type of perception and judgment. And, you know, it's, look, I'm a guy,

03:08and some of the comments that I get, you know, I'm a guy that's been a male stripper for 30 years,

03:13and I look at some of the comments that I get in my DM just from nasty people, man, and it's like,

03:19whoa. So I feel like as women who did this in the partnered relationship, that this is supposed

03:27to be private, you know, and to have this publicly out to the world in this way is rough, man. I feel

03:36for both women to have to go up and share those experiences.

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