Miranda Lambert Poses With ‘Tiger King’ Star Joe Exotic in ‘Monday Memory’ Throwback Photos

It seems even Miranda Lambert has gotten in on the Tiger King craze, giving her social media followers a huge surprise on Monday, April 13 when she posted a series of photos of herself with series star Joe Exotic. In the first snap, Lambert poses with Joe Exotic, John Finlay, Saff, who appears in the Netflix documentary, and another employee, and the second and third snaps are candid shots of the singer with the crew.

“Here’s a little Monday memory for y’all,” Lambert wrote, adding the hashtags #TigerKing and #WayTooPrettyForPrison, the latter of which was a reference to her own song of the same title. “Oh. My. Gosh.,” Lauren Alaina wrote on Instagram. Natalie Hemby added, “Oh. My. Lort.” The photos Lambert posted were taken in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston and Lambert’s animal-focused charity, MuttNation, went to help in relief efforts by relocating shelter dogs.

Joe Exotic is currently in federal prison after he was found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot and he has also been accused of abusing and killing animals. Anticipating potential backlash, Lambert added an extra post on Twitter explaining the “backstory” of the photos, writing that she would “never condone” the mistreatment of animals. “During Hurricane Harvey, the MuttNation Team went to Houston to help relocate existing shelter dogs to free up shelter space for animals separated by their owners,” the “Bluebird” singer wrote. “MuttNation asked for volunteers who could transport some dogs from Houston to shelters in Oklahoma, where there was more room and they could be treated and adopted.”

“Some guy named Joe volunteered his trailer and staff. Now I know it’s ‘Joe Exotic,” she continued with a shrugging emoji. “I’ve never been to his zoo and I didn’t even know that he had tigers. OBVIOUSLY I’d never condone animals being treated badly.”

Some of Lambert’s fans were upset that the star appeared to support Joe Exotic and shared their feelings in the comments of her photos, with many citing Lambert’s long history of advocating for and supporting animals and pointing out that she would never tolerate animal cruelty. Lambert did not share her opinion on the Netflix star’s alleged crimes but appeared to indicate in her explanatory post that she had no idea who Exotic was at the time and simply wanted to share the photos after realizing who he was thanks to the documentary.