Joe Exotic’s prison confession: ‘Tiger King’ ‘absolutely’ ruined my life
nypost.comNetflix series that made him a household name promoted a “conspiracy” that he tried to kill Carole Baskin.“Well, first of all, I didn’t do ‘Tiger King,'” Exotic, 60, told TMZ by phone Friday from his Texas prison after the outlet asked if he regretted participating in the docuseries. “Did ‘Tiger King’ ruin my life?
Absolutely.”He continued: “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 gained worldwide fame from the 2020 docuseries, which showcased his work and personal life as he looked after exotic big cats at his G.W.
Zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Exotic was arrested in September 2018, in the midst of filming, and accused of trying to hire two men to murder fellow big cat collector Baskin, who had labeled Exotic an animal abuser.Prosecutors said he offered $10,000 to an undercover FBI agent during a December 2017 meeting to perform the killing.For his part, Exotic alleged Baskin killed and fed her ex-husband, Don Lewis, to her tigers.
Lewis was declared legally dead years ago, and Baskin has not been charged in his disappearance.Exotic said Friday he has since forgiven Baskin, the owner of the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa, Florida.Exotic was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to 22 years in prison on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder-for-hire.He was also convicted of wildlife violations tied to killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying records.
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