Can you guys help a sister out about this "Tiger King" guy?

[CatWoman]

There was a Netflix doc on him but it's gone from the site now (I've binge watched Narcos and Dracula way too much).

I keep seeing references about him and some woman named Carol who supposedly killed her husband(?) by having the tiger eat the husband alive.

And I saw a thread here on DU where it was mentioned the TK had hired a limo to drive him from jail, pending a pardon from Trump.

Sounds like a real freak show and right up Trump's alley.

What am I missing here? WTF is this guy???

[salin]

1. I didn't see the movie - but did read up on him earlier.

Yep, you called it. Real Freak Show.

Why a pardon, one might ask?

Cause Don Jr liked the movie and has lobbied pops for it.

Cause it takes a freak show, perhaps, to love and root for another freak show?

[CatWoman]

3. Salin!!!

yes, it takes a village of freak shows

[salin]

7. Hi there one of all time

fave. DU people!

Sort of like the traveling show in Something Wicked This Way Comes, if that show also featured a carnie barker.

Wondering when the pardon list will drop - and what kind of freaks and horrors will be on it. Best thing is that there are only 15 hours and its curtains on this odious chapter.

[CatWoman]

10. Jimmy Kimmel is looking for what's left of the Mansion Family to be on it

always so very good to see you

[salin]

17. lol

or at least Ghislaine Maxwell as a near substitute.

If you don't get the TigerKing show - there is a great multi-part pod cast by John Sweeney (frmr BBC) on Maxwell that is a fascinating (and a bit troubling) listen: Hunting Ghislaine .

[Freedomofspeech]

2. He is total trump trash.

All that you need to know.

[csziggy]

4. You've got it - "Tiger King" is Joe Exotic and he is a freak show

He accused Carole Baskin of killing her husband but had no proof. She ended up suing him and got everything he owned, including the zoo property he had signed over to his mother.

While the Netflix series was weirdly fascinating, I wish I had not wasted time watching it.

And yeah, he is a much wackier Trump type - failed at his business, mostly pumped up his own name, and was just plain nuts.

[CatWoman]

6. ok -- Carole Baskin

were they friends, colleagues, or whatever?

What prompted him to say she killed her husband?

[salin]

12. She and her large cat rescue group targeting

his abusive 'zoo'. I think they got him closed down/forced to move (a couple of times?)

So abusive freaks do, what they do. Target enemies for revenge.

[csziggy]

14. Competitors, antagonists

Carole Baskin ran a large cat rescue. Joe Exotic claimed to but also bred them and sold the cubs under the table. She did pretty much harass him about his semi-illegal business and he came up with the claim about her murdering her first husband to keep her at bay. At least that is what I got from the Netflix series - and since Baskin won her lawsuit against him.

[nolabear]

27. Dude is MIA though. I hope he's off somewhere

laughing his ass off.

[csziggy]

33. He's still in prison - I bet this was just a publicity stunt, trying to stay relevant

He is so much like trump.

Joseph Maldonado-Passage was indicted and arrested on September 7, 2018, in Gulf Breeze, Florida, as a result of investigation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, and the U.S. Marshals Service. Maldonado-Passage had tried to hire an undercover FBI agent to murder his nemesis, Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue. A federal jury found him guilty on two counts of hiring someone to murder Baskin in Florida, on eight counts of violating the Lacey Act by falsifying wildlife records, and on nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act by killing five tigers and for selling tigers across state lines.[22][23] He was sentenced to 22 years in prison on January 22, 2019.[24] As of March 2020, he is incarcerated at FMC Fort Worth.[25] In June 2020, Baskin received control of Joe Exotic's zoo property.[26] The same month, Donald Trump described Joe Exotic as a "strange guy" but did not state if he would consider pardoning him.[27]

In March 2020, Maldonado-Passage filed a lawsuit against those he blamed for his arrest and conviction, including "the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, his lead prosecutor, a federal agent, former business partner Jeff Lowe and others"; he sought $94 million;[28] he dropped the lawsuit five months later.[28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Exotic#Arrest,_conviction,_and_imprisonment

[nolabear]

34. I mean Carole's husband.

[csziggy]

35. Oh, sorry. In the series he was supposed to take a plane to Costa Rica

He often flew himself even though his pilot's license was suspended.

The Wikipedia article about the disappearance of Don Lewis is pretty good and has links to articles that cover it in more depth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Don_Lewis

[Shermann]

9. I had the misfortune of watching the series

There were some oddly intriguing moments as you say, but it seemed mostly a waste of time. I guess I don't get it.

[egduj]

5. It was a captivating documentary.

No heroes, all villains.

[CatWoman]

8. damn

now I have to find it.

Maybe Ebay or Amazon has it.

[csziggy]

16. It does seem to still be on Netflix

When I searched online, I got it listed with the option to "Resume" for my Netflix account.

[CatWoman]

20. wow

thanks.

I did a search on the Netflix site and nothing came up

[Leghorn21]

19. I just took this shot on my teevee, Cat

It’s totally on Netflix, they will NEVER remove it!!

Maybe a quick look with some fast forwarding will give you an idea of what these characters and I MEAN CHARACTERS are like!!

Joe and Carolyn ran competing big-cat breeding businesses and they didn’t like each other and when Carolyn’s first husband disappeared, people wondered if she done him in...so Joe took up that banner and they were enemies and I forget why he’s in jail now, he took out a contract on somebody, probably her - ?

Anyway, that’s what I remember, hey, I’m old and it’s been a while since I watched it!

[CatWoman]

22. Thanks very much for the info

[Leghorn21]

24. You bet!! It's a TRIP

And yeah, he tried to take a hit out on Carole (not Carolyn)

Wiki:

“In 2019, Maldonado-Passage was convicted on 17 federal charges of animal abuse (eight violations of the Lacey Act and nine of the Endangered Species Act)[5] and two counts of attempted murder for hire for a plot to kill Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin.“

[nolabear]

28. Now add that 45 actually spoke words of support for him

and now he thinks he’s getting a pardon.

Narrator: He didn’t.

[CatWoman]

31. I don't understand your post

?

[Demovictory9]

13. I can't watch it because I don't like animal abuse

[FreeState]

21. It's worth it though

The documentary really shows how there are no ethical big cat sanctuaries in the US. I learned a lot despite the drama of it all.

[Demovictory9]

11. he's a criminal but the show made him popular.

[Demsrule86]

15. My husband was addicted to this series. I found it horrifying...and Tiger King abused

and killed some of those Tigers I think. And there was this woman who's husband up and disappeared. I think she killed him. I didn't really like it.

[LeftInTX]

18. The series is still on Netflix

Screenshot just now:

[CatWoman]

23. Thanks very much for the info

as I mentioned above, it didn't come up for me when I did a search on the site.

[LeftInTX]

26. Link

https://www.netflix.com/title/81115994?source=35

You can get to almost netflix video by googling the title. There will be a sidebar in google with a link to the video if it is on netflix.

[happybird]

25. I've not watched the show, but I have been subscribed to

Carol’s rescue’s YouTube channel for a few years (Big Cat Rescue). She seems like a good-hearted and eccentric lady. I mean, she’s a cat lady, like me, so eccentricity goes with the territory. Maybe the bigger the cats, the bigger the kookiness?

The first I heard of all of this drama was when she posted a short video the day the guy was charged. She seemed very calm, articulate, and relieved. I googled the details after being like, “Wuuuhhh??” I had no idea, I just liked watching their videos of giving the big cats treats. The show came a year or two later.

IIRC, the other theory about her first husband’s death is that he committed suicide in a remote spot and they still haven’t located his body. I think Joe Exotic’s beef with her was that cats being neglected and mistreated at his facility were taken to hers by the authorities so they could live in a proper, safe environment. I can’t remember if she and/or her employees reported the abuse, but I think they did, along with others in the industry. Anyhoo, the show is super sensationalized with extra focus on and encouragement of weird people. And drama, of course.

Big Cat Rescue does good work and that’s enough for me.
Just my 2 cents.



Added this, from the YouTube channel.
I could watch big cats getting snacks all day! It’s strangely relaxing and fascinating. And, it’s funny how the big ones tend to be mellow and take their treat daintily, but the little ones are growly and fierce, lol! They are all so beautiful.

[CatWoman]

30. thanks Happy

[LSFL]

29. Take your pick

It depends upon the size of the turd you want. Was TK over sentenced....maybe. Did Carol feed her husband's corpse to her big cats... maybe. Did a lot of noble apex predators die....definitely. Should they have been here.... maybe not.

It's just a bunch of stupid shit that happened.

[Texasgal]

32. I watched some of it..

but as the series went on, It started to feel very dark. A lot of exploitation with the animals and the people depicted.

I never finished it.

[meadowlander]

37. Me too.

The first episode or two were interesting and deal with some of the ethical issues around big cat breeding in captivity. The rest is just poverty porn. I checked out when the director started interviewing employees that were obviously tripping balls during the interview.

The series doesn't ultimately have anything to say except "look at all these freaks!" "Carole is just as bad as Joe!" and "breeding big cats in captivity for entertainment purposes is unethical". To which I say "life is too short" "only one of them is in prison" and "no shit".

If you want to get the gist without sitting through nine plus hours (or whatever it is) check out Legal Eagle's analysis of the crimes portrayed:

[Mr.Bill]

36. Republican presidential nominee

in 2024. You heard it here first.