‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic Breaks Silence From Prison Following Wild Success of Netflix Series

Joe Exotic, the main subject of Netflix’s hit documentary series Tiger King, has broken his silence on the show’s wild success, while speaking from prison. Exotic is currently serving time behind bars after being convicted on two counts of murder for hire, eight violations of the Lacey Act, and nine violations of the Endangered Species Act.

The newly resurfaced interview was shared on Twitter by Netflix, and gave Exotic an opportunity to comment on his newfound fame. “You know it would be nice if I could actually see me being famous out there, but I’ve seen these same four walls for a year and a half now,” he said. Exotic was asked if there was anything he wanted to say to his new fans, and he took that as an opportunity to express sorrow for the events that transpired, leading to his incarceration. “Go it in a cage with your animals for a week. I mean, when I left the zoo and I sent my chimpanzees to the sanctuary in Florida and imagined what my chimpanzees went through for 18 years, I—I’m ashamed of myself.” Finally, Exotic explained that he has no interest in fighting his old battle, saying, “I’m done with the Carole Baskin saga. It’s now time to turn the tables and Joe get out of jail a free man and exonerated from all these charges.”

The new post has garnered a lot of responses from Tiger King viewers, some of whom are showing support for Exotic, and others who are less convinced of his innocence.

“I mean he definitely conspired and paid someone to have someone else killed, those charges make sense. But all the animal charges are pointless when there’s multiple known people doing the exact same thing, even advertising it on social media’s,” one user tweeted, to which another replied, “I don’t believe Jeff or that hitman guy, it’s entirely possible they set him up.”

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is now streaming on Netflix.