Featured Image Credit: State of Florida/Sean Pavone/Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Weird, Tiger King, Joe Exotic, US News, Politics, Celebrity, Film and TV
Katherine Sidnell
Topics: Weird, Tiger King, Joe Exotic, US News, Politics, Celebrity, Film and TV
Joe Exotic has announced that his running for president during the next election - and he's pretty serious about it.
It’s almost three years to the day since Exotic became a household name, largely thanks to Netflix’s Tiger King documentary which examined the bizarre goings-on at the GW Zoo.
Although he is currently in federal prison for animal abuse and attempted murder, the disgraced former zookeeper has told fans he ‘isn’t joking’ about his presidential bid.
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In fact, Exotic, who is also known as Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, acknowledged this in his current incarceration in his campaign statement, saying that he is only behind bars due to ‘corruption’ within the US Justice System (yes, really!).
The TV personality said: “Yes, I know I am in Federal Prison and you might think this is a joke but it's not. It is my Constitutional right to do this even from here."
He claimed that others had assisted in falsely convicting him, saying: “I have been put here only because of the corruption in the Department of Justice, three felons that were told how to lie under oath to further this agenda.”
The letter continued with a series of bizarre allegations, with Exotic also claiming that the US government ‘gives away’ taxes to foreign nations.
He said: "That is why I am doing this, to finally give you a voice and your freedom back without fear of living in a country that thinks they own you and can tell you how to live your life."
Exotic finishes his statement by saying that he is 'broke' and that it is time to 'take this country back'.
And this isn't the first time Exotic has had his eyes on politics as he'd previously attempted to run for Governor of Oklahoma in 2017 and also ran for President in 2016, where he referred to himself as 'broke as s**t'.
Seems like he's got a pretty consistent brand going.
But it’s unlikely that we'll see him as the commander-in-chief any time soon as Exotic is currently serving 21 years in prison, after he was accused of trying to hire two hitmen to kill Carol Baskin in January 2020.
Baskin, who also appeared in the Netflix documentary, had constantly criticised Exotic’s treatment of animals.
Exotic was also convicted of killing five tigers, selling cubs illegally and falsifying records, although he has continuously denied these claims.
He acknowledged his charges in his campaign statement, saying: "The only thing I did was put five very old, crippled tigers to sleep in the most humane way possible and it was approved by my USDA Inspector, so it's time to get over it."
He also took a swipe at Baskin stating that she’d 'killed 226 tigers' and that most people 'ate meat' so it was 'time to move past this issue'.
