Sex

Sharay Hayes, an exotic male dancer known as "The Punisher," is apologizing to Cassie Ventura for his role in some sexual encounters with Diddy.

"The Punisher" went on CNN and said he's sorry to Cassie for any suffering he may have caused her ... explaining that at the time, he had no idea or indication that she was having a bad experience.

Hayes testified in the Diddy criminal trial about his role in "freak-offs" with Diddy and Cassie -- and he told us he didn't see Diddy do anything that seemed illegal -- but after learning Cassie told jurors she was being blackmailed and threatened to participate in freak-offs, he's offered up his apology.

Kevin Costner is being sued by a stunt performer for sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation over a rape scene for the second part of his anthology series "Horizon: An American Saga" ... a scene she claims was unscripted.

Devyn LaBella filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Costner and the film's production companies after she says she was "the victim of a violent unscripted, unscheduled rape scene" directed by Costner on May 2, 2023, according to legal docs obtained by TMZ.

LaBella -- whose other credits include "Barbie" and "American Horror Story" -- says she experienced no issues on set prior and even filmed a scheduled and rehearsed sexual assault scene on May 1 ... which is why she was shocked to stroll on to set the following day learning she would be subject to shooting another explicit scene.

Sharay Hayes, an exotic male dancer known as "The Punisher," tells us he's unsure why federal prosecutors called him as a witness in the Diddy trial ... because he says he never saw Diddy do anything that seemed illegal and thinks his testimony may have actually helped the defense.

"The Punisher" joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and we asked him if prosecutors gave him any indication why they wanted to get him on the stand, because his testimony Tuesday left many people wondering how prosecutors thought it related to any of the charges against Diddy.

Hayes says he is still confused as to why his testimony was necessary ... telling us he let prosecutors know from the jump he didn't see anything that looked criminal during his sexual interactions with Diddy and Cassie.

WNBA player Sophie Cunningham is adamantly denying she ever hooked up with Phoenix Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein ... calling the claims made in a recent lawsuit "untrue and extremely hurtful."

The current Indiana Fever guard was named in bombshell court documents filed by former Suns and Mercury employee Gene Traylor earlier this month ... and among the numerous allegations laid out, he stated he heard of an affair between the hooper and exec when she was still on the team.

In the lawsuit, Traylor said he was notified of the inappropriate relationship by coworker Cornelius Craig, the organization's VP of security and risk management.

Federal prosecutors just dropped another document dump of evidence presented in court at Diddy's sex trafficking and racketeering trial -- and the pics give us a window into the music mogul's lavish and kinky lifestyle on Miami's Star Island.

As you know, Diddy lived in a huge mansion on the island -- and Homeland Security Investigations Agent Gerard Gannon testified Tuesday he was the head of the operation that conducted a raid on the property in March 2024. Gannon told the court the feds confiscated loaded assault rifles, sex toys and bottles of lubricant.

Now, the feds have publicly released a mountain of photos showing exactly what items the feds recovered from Diddy's sprawling estate -- which, by the way, is pretty darn high-end.

Jimmy Clabots says he and other escorts were well aware of what went on in Diddy's bedroom for a long time ... and he's not surprised some of his ex-costars are now wrapped up in the trial.

Clabots, who appeared on "Gigolos" Seasons 1 and 2 as Jimmy Dior, tells us he was on hold a few times for Diddy, but was never ultimately booked.

He did, however, know other escorts at the agency who were ... and some of the guys told him they did see "chemicals" -- or drug use -- while others did not.

Sharay Hayes, an exotic male dancer known as "The Punisher," included his sexual experiences with Cassie and Diddy in his memoir about erectile dysfunction ... and it's very graphic.

Hayes took the stand Tuesday in Diddy's federal criminal trial in NYC and he told the jury he wrote about Diddy and Cassie in his book, "In Search of Freezer Meat."

He testified he did not name Cassie or Diddy in the book, instead referring to them as a married wealthy couple ... and we found the six pages where he talks about their sexual encounters -- and it's vivid, to put it mildly.

Homeland Security Investigations Agent Gerard Gannon is detailing the March 2024 raid on Diddy's Miami estate ... and he testified the feds found assault rifles, loaded magazines, sex toys and some brand-name lubricant.

Gannon told the NYC jury he was the special agent in charge on the ground for the raid ... and the operation was assigned to his unit because the investigation featured human trafficking allegations.

He said about 80 to 90 agents were involved in the search of Diddy's 20,000-square-foot property on Star Island ... with the feds using an armored vehicle to break through the front gate, and deploying boats to make sure nobody tried to flee the waterfront home.

Sharay Hayes, an exotic male dancer known as "The Punisher," is testifying for the prosecution in the Diddy trial ... telling the jury about the first encounter he had with Diddy and Cassie ... saying the couple hired him to create a sexy erotic scene for them.

Hayes says he was first hired in 2012, when a woman called and booked him for a midnight gig at the Trump International Hotel in New York City. He says he was hired to perform a striptease for a group of people but when he got to the room, he says it was just Cassie in a bathrobe and a wig.

He told the jury Cassie told him that she and Diddy -- neither of whom he recognized at the time -- didn't want him to dance and instead wanted him to create a sexual scene with baby oil.

The alleged sex worker known as Ash Armand, who was allegedly involved in Diddy's "freak-offs," looks a bit worse for wear in his latest prison mug shot after he was convicted of manslaughter in the murder of his girlfriend years ago.

TMZ exclusively obtained the booking photo in 2021 ... Armand -- who also starred in the reality show  "Gigolos" -- has packed on a few extra pounds behind bars and appears disheveled with messy hair.

His days being a hot gigolo seem to be behind him ... no longer will we see him walking red carpets for Showtime’s "Gigolos," which follows the day-to-day lives of five male escorts based in Las Vegas.

The question of whether pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in prison has finally been put to bed ... for real this time!

FBI Director Kash Patel and his Deputy Director Dan Bongino sat for an interview Sunday with Maria Bartiromo on FOX News's "Sunday Morning Futures," and set the record straight on the issue of whether Epstein took his own life or was killed behind bars at NYC's Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019.

During the wide-ranging discussion, Bartiromo addressed Epstein near the end of the 30-minute chat — telling Patel, "You said Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. People don't believe it."

Diddy wants Dawn Richard's civil suit against him thrown out ... calling the allegations she's made against him totally false -- on the same day she took the witness stand against him in his criminal trial.

The rap mogul's legal team filed the documents Friday ... pointing out a series of reasons why Dawn's lawsuit shouldn't go any further -- statute of limitations, improper group pleads, and on and on.

It's mostly lawyer speak ... though Diddy's attorneys do say early on in the docs that she's essentially trying to ride the wave of negative press around Diddy to a payout -- writing Dawn "seeks to transform narratives of alleged injuries against others into a headline-grabbing sex trafficking conspiracy as to her."

The ex-wife of Diddy "sex slave" Jonathan Oddi is speaking out, saying her former spouse still fears the disgraced music mogul -- even while he's locked away behind bars.

Oddi’s ex, Tonia Troutwine, tells TMZ … Jonathan is still afraid of Diddy and fears retaliation from the Bad Boy Records CEO, despite sitting in a cell at the Miami-Dade County Jail in Florida.

But get this … Tonia says Oddi does feel somewhat relaxed and protected in jail because he’s far away from Diddy, who is currently on trial in NYC for racketeering, sex trafficking and other federal crimes -- sitting in his own jail cell in Brooklyn.

The first week of testimony in the Diddy trial is in the books ... and Cassie is finally off the stand.

The singer testified Friday for the fourth straight day, starting off with cross-examination from Diddy's defense team ... and lots of texts were read to jurors, including one where Cassie told Diddy she wasn't a "rag doll" after the hotel beating incident.

Cassie also referenced an affair she had with an NFL player and told his defense she didn't hate Diddy and actually had love for their past.

Cassie Ventura is trying to close some loops on her testimony as she answers questions from prosecutors after being grilled by Diddy's defense attorneys ... and she's now told the jury Diddy threatened to release a sex tape if she didn't participate in a freak-off.

Prosecutors asked Cassie what Diddy did on a flight home from France ... and she testified Diddy played her a video of her having sex with an escort.

The feds asked Cassie what Diddy said he would do ... and she testified he told her he would release the tape.

Diddy defense attorney Anna Estevao seems like she's trying to imply that Cassie believed his alleged 2018 rape may have been related to bipolar disorder.

The issue was brought up in court Friday when Estevao was asking Cassie about what she told investigators about Diddy allegedly raping her in 2018 after they had a conversation at dinner about breaking up.

Estevao asked Cassie what she told investigators ... and Cassie said Diddy was acting "nice but strangely" at dinner and "wasn't in his right mind" because when she asked him to stop raping her he did not respond.