Joe Exotic Says ‘Tiger King’ Ruined His Life

Joe Exotic recently said that the Netflix docuseries that boosted his notoriety to viral levels actually ruined his life. Exotic claims there is a conspiracy against him and the Netflix docuseries is part of the core of that conspiracy. According to TMZ, Exotic the series cooked up a “conspiracy” related to his arrest and conviction on offering money to have Carole Baskin murdered. Baskin is another big cat owner who claimed Exotic was an animal abuser and also gained more notoriety from the docuseries, for better and worse.

“Well, first of all, I didn’t do ‘Tiger King,’” Exotic told TMZ. “Did Tiger King ruin my life? Absolutely…I was filming just a little tiger show in 2016 and 2017, and then Netflix and [Tiger King director] Eric Goode and all of them turned this into this conspiracy that killed [sic] Carole Baskin to make a show.”

Exotic was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to 22 years in prison for two counts of attempted “murder-for-hire” and 17 additional charges of animal abuse. He was also hit with wildlife violations related to the death of five tigers, selling tiger cubs, and doctoring records to hide these activities.

The former zoo owner had attempted to get pardoned when Donald Trump was leaving the White House, failing to persuade the former reality star. He did attempt to have his sentence lowered, earning one year off his sentence to lower it to 21 years.

“Anything you saw me in was real filming that I filmed at the zoo,” Exotic added. “Everything they filmed after 2018 when I got arrested was all pre-setup, and we have evidence that they were all paid to say what they said.”

Exotic spoke with the docuseries from prison when they filmed updates for season 2 on the streamer. The entire docuseries is also not the only piece of media or coverage that lends to the charges against Exotic. Still, all of this is likely the last concern for Exotic at this point if the reports are true.

While he had been reported to be in remission in his battle with cancer, the latest reports indicate that his cancer has returned and he is refusing treatment for it. He has also put together a will and signed a do-not-resuscitate order, seemingly planning for the end of his life.

Has that stopped Exotic from tossing his hat into the ring as a presidential candidate from behind bars? No way, with Exotic telling TMZ he would be “the first presidential candidate to die in federal prison.”

“People may think that this is a joke for me being sick and me running for office from here, but it’s not,” Exotic said. “I have some extremely major influencers that are my endorsers and online news tabloids and everything else that’s backing me for this.” This doesn’t address his 21-year sentence in the slim case he ever won an election.