‘Tiger King’: Joe Exotic Says He’s ‘Done’ With Carole Baskin, Wants to Be ‘Free Man’

The former big cat owner is currently behind bars for a murder-for-hire plot against animal rights activist

Tiger King
Netflix

Joseph Maldonado-Passage aka Joe Exotic has noticed the fame he’s gotten since the release of the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King.”

“You know it would be nice if I could actually see me being famous out there,” Maldonado-Passage said during an interview from prison conducted by Netflix on March 22. He’s currently serving a 22-year sentence for his role in a murder-for-fire plot against big cat animal rights activist Carole Baskin.

Maldonado-Passage added that he’s done with Baskin, who was portrayed as his main rival throughout the Netflix series, which has become one of the most popular on the streaming service.

“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,” he said.

For her part, Baskin has ripped the series as being “salacious and sensational.” “There are no words for how disappointing it is,” Baskin, who said she was asked to be part of “the big cat version of ‘Blackfish,’” stated.

Baskin runs the Big Cat Rescue and was highly critical of Maldonado-Passage’s park. Several of the other people profiled in and interviewed for “Tiger King” do not believe Baskin to be the squeaky-clean animal rights activist that she purports to be. Maldonado-Passage has outright accused Baskin of killing her former husband and either feeding his remains to the tigers or dumping the body in a septic tank on their property. Earlier this week, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office renewed its search for Jack “Don” Lewis, citing the increased interest in the case.

“Tiger King” follows (and the title refers to) Joe Exotic, the owner of a big-cat zoo in Oklahoma. Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was found to be guilty of hiring a hitman to kill Baskin, a rival of his in the animal world. He’s serving a multi-decade prison sentence for that and for animal rights crimes.

Watch the interview below:

Comments