TMZ.com

Diddy once had a sick, twisted Christmas gift idea for his then-girlfriend Cassie when they were dating ... a "freak-off."

The jury in Diddy's federal criminal trial was shown text messages in court Monday from January 2013, including one in which Diddy asked Cassie if she wanted to belatedly celebrate Christmas by having a freak-off ... which numerous witnesses in the case have described as essentially sex marathons in hotels with a hired male escort.

The conversation began with Diddy texting Cassie, "You horny" ... to which Cassie responded, "Lol yeah".

Diddy's trial is on the verge of another jury shakeup due to one of them getting a strange text message that's left the judge with concerns this juror is talking about the case outside of court.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ the juror alerted the court on Friday about the text message, from a phone number he didn't recognize, asking him if HE was Juror No. 6 -- who'd already been in the news as someone Judge Arun Subramanian might dismiss.

We're told this other juror wanted the judge to know about the mystery text and, indeed, Judge Subramanian did have lots of questions for him about the message and the phone number from which it came.

On the 24th day of Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial in NYC, a paralegal specialist took the stand to testify about evidence showing the travel arrangements for participants in alleged "freak-offs."

Ananya Sankar is asked about a December 2019 message from Kristina Khorram -- Diddy's former chief of staff -- in response to Ryan Lopez, a former Diddy assistant, who texts KK about spotting a male escort -- who he calls "one of the cowboys" -- in a hotel lobby, which KK replies with four "laughing" emojis, and the message "how long is he going to stay awake?"

The prosecution plays an audio file in court they say was recorded on January 30, 2023 ... and Sankar is asked to read transcripts back and forth of a conversation between Khorram and another former assistant, Dave Shirley, about a trip to a Four Seasons hotel location. KK writes, "Heads up, he's about to do wild king tonight." Dave Shirley responds about picking up some money ... and says he needs "to reup on baby oil."

Diddy's federal jury in NYC is bringing in an alternate ... because a juror has just been dismissed by the judge after hearing more than three weeks of testimony.

Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed Juror Number 6 Monday morning after hearing arguments from the prosecution and the defense regarding where the juror lives.

While the jury was out of the room Friday, the judge explained he went back to the voir dire portion of the trial and found this juror had said at different times that he lives in the Bronx, at other times in New Jersey.

Vance Boelter -- the suspected killer of Minnesota State Senator Melissa Hortman and her husband -- was captured by police Sunday night after a two-day manhunt.

Boelter -- who also shot and wounded another Minnesota lawmaker and his wife -- was arrested in rural Green Isle, Minn., after an eagle-eyed officer spotted him dashing into the woods, according to police.

A local resident's trail camera reportedly caught an image of Boelter lurking in the forest, and the photo alerted SWAT teams to go to the area. Cops say police used infrared technology during the nighttime search, as well as drones and helicopters.

Diddy's accusing the prosecutors in his case of trying to get rid of a Black juror ... and, he says he wants a mistrial if the judge goes through with the dismissal.

The rapper's legal team filed a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian Sunday evening ... claiming that -- while the Court might believe the prosecution's questions about a juror's inconsistent answers during voir dire are sincere -- the government is just finding pretense to dismiss a juror because of their race.

Diddy's team says by putting the dismissal attempt into the context of the overarching proceedings, it's easy to see that they're trying "to take advantage of an opportunity to strike yet another black male from the jury."

Judge Mathis isn't going to show up to Diddy's trial and support him ... but, he says those he's close to should -- though he's also questioning Kanye West's reason for making an appearance this week.

We caught up with the TV star Saturday in Los Angeles on the world-famous Rodeo Drive ... and, we had to ask him if he thought Kanye showing up to Diddy's trial Friday would make an impact.

Remember ... Kanye pulled up to the federal courthouse in Manhattan Friday, but he never actually made it into the courtroom. Instead, officials actually opened up a secondary overflow room just for him to watch the trial on a monitor.

Diddy's trial got the whole courtroom buzzing Friday ... but, it had nothing to do with testimony -- it was all about the arrival of another music legend.

Kanye West showed up at Friday morning ... drawing a tons of eyes -- and quite a few cameras -- as he dapped up Diddy's son Christian on the way into the courtroom.

However, Ye left the trial after only about 10 minutes ... even though court officials opened up a whole other overflow room just for him to watch the proceedings.

Smokey Robinson is trying to turn up the heat on a woman accusing him of sexual abuse ... asking the court to compel her deposition and to sanction her attorneys.

The singer-songwriter filed the new document Thursday ... claiming Jane Doe 2’s attorneys won't set up a date for her deposition -- and telling the judge the delay isn’t fair to Smokey.

Robinson argues his livelihood is being affected by the delay ... because each day these allegations against him drag out affects his touring income.

Diddy's ex-assistant says his boss was like a hungry bear during the "freak-offs" ... 'cause he says he needed to have a special snack at the ready meant to increase libido -- a whole lot of honey.

Jonathan Perez -- Diddy's assistant from December 2021 until he was arrested in September 2024 -- took the stand Friday and described setting up rooms for what he and Diddy's staff called "king nights" ... another term for the infamous freak-offs.

Perez says the point of setting up the rooms was to make sure Diddy had whatever he needed for 12 to 24 hours without having to bother anyone ... this included gathering food, liquor, music, red lights, condoms and lubricant.

Antonio Brown is wanted for attempted murder, TMZ can confirm.

Law enforcement sources tell us authorities in Miami-Dade County, Florida are seeking to arrest the former NFL wide receiver on a charge of attempted murder stemming from a shooting at a celebrity boxing event in May.

We covered the incident -- AB was briefly detained by police following an intense dust-up involving a gun at Adin Ross' Brand Risk kickboxing event just over a month ago.

Diddy's ex-girlfriend has finished her testimony ... providing more details about her alleged fight with Diddy, and the party she attended that she says made him angry.

"Jane" took the stand again Thursday to shed more light on the physical altercation she says occurred between herself and the music mogul back in June 2024.

Remember, Jane testified earlier this week about an incident where she says she pushed his head into a marble counter and threw candles at him before hiding behind several locked doors -- all of which she alleges he kicked in.

R. Kelly and Diddy have something in common ... both men have been accused of racketeering and sex trafficking -- and even though the two aren't exactly friends, Kelly says he feels for Diddy, who's currently on trial, and says Black entertainers as a whole are under siege by the feds.

TMZ caught up with one of Kelly's lawyers, Beau Brindley, who spoke to us about his famous client, who was just placed in solitary confinement after receiving death threats from white supremacists in a federal prison in North Carolina.

Brindley points out Kelly and Diddy are not friends -- and "far from it" -- but Kelly still has sympathy for Diddy over his current situation ... as everyone knows, Diddy is facing decades behind bars if convicted on racketeering, sex trafficking and other charges at his federal criminal trial in NYC.

Diddy's ex-girlfriend says she watched an unnamed woman have sex in front of a party full of people in Las Vegas ... all while an unidentified rap icon flirted with her.

"Jane" was back on the stand for another day of testimony Thursday ... and, she answered questions about a January 2024 trip to Sin City to hang with the unnamed rapper -- described by her as a legend and icon in the industry -- and his wife or girlfriend at a birthday party.

Jane says she flew on the rapper's private plane -- Diddy was unaware because they were on a break at the time, she adds -- and met up with a group of people when they touched down, including Antoine ... who she says was a male escort who knew the rapper and his wife or girlfriend.

Sean "Diddy" Combs chose a unique pet name for his ex-girlfriend ... lovingly calling her his "crackpipe" -- and now we have the strange audio of the moment he gave her the one-of-a-kind term of endearment.

Listen to the audio clip ... the music mogul is apparently raving about the time they spent together during an early 2023 getaway to Turks and Caicos. He gushes ... "You are the crackpipe. That’s my new name for you: crackpipe. Or should I call you CP?"

He laughs at himself -- seemingly amused by the pet name -- before going on about their time together and encouraging his former lover to "stay in the light" and rest up.

Diddy apparently needed companionship in the days after Cassie Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against him ... this according to a conversation he had with "Jane" just days later.

According to a new evidence exhibit filed in the case, the rap mogul and Jane had a conversation recorded by Kristina Khorram -- an employee often referred to as Diddy's chief of staff -- on November 19, 2023. The date is significant … as it is just three days after Cassie filed her lawsuit and two days after Diddy quickly settled for $20 million.

Diddy asks Jane not to send him any texts ... fearing anyone who reads them may misinterpret their communications.