Tiger King (2020) s02e01 Episode Script
Beg Your Pardon
[mysterious music playing]
[clock ticking]
- [ticking stops]
- [country music playing on TV]
[on TV] My name is Joe Exotic,
and this is Thunder and Lightning!
Hi, I'm Carole Baskin, and I'm the founder
and CEO of Big Cat Rescue.
[John Reinke] Animal people are nuts, man,
and I might be one of them people.
[reporter 1] Tigers are so hot right now!
[reporter 2] Let's talk about
the Tiger King first.
Is that Joe Exotic? That's Joe Exotic?
[Joe Rogan] Have you heard about this dude
who's in a battle with a lady
who might've fed her ex-husband to tigers?
Hey, all you cool cats and kittens,
it's Carole Baskin.
[reporter 3] People cannot get enough
of his feud with Carole Baskin.
[reporter 4] Much like Joe, the effort
to free him is flashy and over the top.
I've been in prison because of
Carole [bleeping] Baskin, you bitch!
[soft country music playing]
[automated voice]
You have a prepaid call from
[Joe] Joe Exotic.
[automated voice]
an inmate at a federal prison.
[Joe on phone] I'm sitting on a trash can.
[woman laughing]
You're sitting on a trash can?
You know, it would be nice
if I could actually see
me being famous out there.
But I mean, I've seen these same
four walls for a year and a half now.
I would love to be able
to watch the documentary.
Maybe later down the road, I can.
But, you know, with all of the guards,
they're singing my music videos, and
you know, wanting autographs,
and saying they're gonna
buy my underwear off the internet.
It's fun. You know, it's cool.
I would love to be able
to walk out of here,
but I can't.
[indistinct chatter]
[Reinke] Selfies are 15.
[woman] All right.
[Reinke] Cool.
[Joe on phone] Everybody from the zoo
is out there making money
using "Joe Exotic" and talking shit.
Joe is a lost, lonely guy
that just went way too far.
Sorry, buddy, but you did what you did,
and now you gotta serve your time for it.
[Joe on phone] I'm paying the price
for every one of them people.
My big, handsome boy.
[Joe on phone] I'm done with it.
I will die making sure
that they end up in prison.
Yeah. Welcome to my world of bullshit.
[epic country music playing]
[announcer 1] Gentlemen,
start your engines!
[reporter 1] Things have
changed in Wynnewood.
With Joe now in prison,
this cast of characters
are moving forward.
[announcer 2] Dancing the pasodoble,
it's Carole Baskin!
[reporter 2] The Tiger King empire
might be completely declawed.
[reporter 3] Congress making a big push
to ban backyard big cats.
They think taking my animals
is gonna shut me up?
Watch how the fucking game is played.
[Joe on phone] I am trying to
get the fuck out of here.
If I have to make a deal with the Devil,
I will make a deal with the Devil.
[country music crescendos]
[soft country music playing]
[Jeff Lowe] Tiger King
changed our lives overnight.
Anywhere we go, people know my name.
I think it makes sense to capitalize.
I thought, "You know what,
how badass would it be to have a big 'TK'
right in the center of the park
when you came in?"
[reporter] Many are in a rush
to get out of quarantine,
and this place first
on their list of trips.
The virus not giving anyone here pause.
[Jeff] I bet you we've taken 20
- 30,000 photographs with people.
- It's incredible.
[Brittany Peet] We saw huge crowds
and lines of people.
Jeff seemed to be making money
hand over fist.
[woman] Oh my
[Brittany] Even though we knew
that tigers could contract Covid-19.
PETA has submitted a lot of complaints
about conditions for animals
at Jeff Lowe's facility.
[Jeff] PETA is
conspiring to put us out of business
when we're not doing a thing wrong.
We've gotten lots of trespassers,
several death threats.
[woman] I'm sorry, who are you?
This is private property.
This is private. Who the fuck are y'all?
[man] We're subcontractors
- For who?
- [man] For a production.
- Uh, we're not at liberty to say.
- Then you can get the fuck off.
[Jeff] Quit pointing this fucker at me!
So, we brought John in from Vegas.
Come on our property,
and this is what you'll deal with.
[gun firing]
[Joe on phone] There's an innocent man
in prison because of Jeff Lowe.
It's insane.
I gotta get the hell out of this jail.
[all] Free Joe Exotic!
[Dillon Passage]
I absolutely love Joe, but
you know,
I don't want to be forever known as
just "Joe Exotic's husband."
I want to be Dillon Passage.
[Joe on phone] Dillon turned into
a little monster,
because he wants his five minutes of fame.
My name is Jeff Duncan. I'm Dillon's boss.
Ah! False.
[laughing]
He's my manager.
Okay, he's my boss.
We're about to have my merch drop.
This one, we have been told,
is extremely effective,
and we can call it Tail Brightener.
Some people call it anal bleach.
I really thought this was for your face.
We've been instructed not to put it
on our face. Don't put it on your face.
[man] And three, two
I'm John Reinke. When you
have an accident, and it's serious
- Ah, fuck.
- No, I like that right there, strong.
[man] Let's go again.
[Reinke] I think Joe might get out.
I really do.
Everybody thinks Joe was done wrongly,
so Joe needs to be out.
Hey, y'all, I just got a letter
from the Tiger King.
I wrote him a few months ago.
Didn't expect to get it back, but I did.
Joe Exotic needs you more now than ever.
He shouldn't be in jail,
because he is innocent.
[Saff Saffery] This is what he wanted,
to be on every social media platform,
on every billboard,
to be the talk of the town.
Joe has been famous
in his own head forever.
- Help!
- Stole my
I was incredibly disappointed
by the public's reaction to Carole
versus the reaction to Joe.
Hi, my name's Jimmy
[Brittany] The reaction to Joe
was #FreeJoeExotic,
certain people treating him
like some kind of folk hero
when he was convicted
of trying to murder this woman.
But the negative stuff we saw was,
"That bitch Carole Baskin."
When we find that bitch Carole Baskin,
we're gonna put her head on a stick.
She was terrorized for so long by Joe.
Now, all these other people
are coming after her.
[officer] This is the Hillsborough County
Sheriff's Office.
[woman] I am part of a Facebook group
for that thing that came out on Netflix.
[officer] Okay.
[woman] And there's
threats of hundreds of people
bum-rushing the owner
and hurting the owner.
The vast majority of the calls,
and social posts, and emails
that I was getting were so hateful.
I couldn't leave my phone on
because I couldn't sleep.
It was just constantly ringing.
[man] Carole, it's an emergency.
I found an injured bobcat
on the corner of
- I know you murdered your husband, you
- [phone beeps]
- [woman] Free Joe Exotic! Free Joe Exotic!
- [phone beeps]
[man] You put a hero behind bars.
There's a clear, ridiculous,
misogynistic double standard there.
There's not a shred of doubt in my mind
that that lady's husband
is tiger sashimi right now.
I'm just saying. [laughing]
[Sam Roberts] The people were exposed
to a great criminal injustice,
and that's the fact
that Joe Exotic went to jail.
He's asking for a presidential pardon.
[Trump Jr.] I've heard that.
Is that true, though?
Or is that just someone coming up with it?
It sounds true.
It sounds like something
Joe would ask for. Yeah.
It does.
If he has to go through
another trial and everything,
we're talking about years
and lots and lots of money.
The presidential pardon
would just get him out.
[Eric Love] I can guarantee you
that a presidential pardon
has never been done like this
in US history.
We're using the biggest bus on US soil.
We're putting on a show.
I reached out to Joe and explained
to him that I had looked at his case,
and I felt like we had a good opportunity
to blow holes all through it.
I think we can get him released.
I've assembled a team right now
that is gonna put
the five finger death punch on this case.
Around the beginning of Covid,
Joe was transferred to Fort Worth.
Eric called me and said he had a case
for us to work on if I was interested.
He told me what it was, and I said,
"I'm in, whatever it is. It's fun."
Our investigators have uncovered
quite a bit of evidence that was unknown
at the time of trial
and obviously affected the trial.
Joe got screwed.
But, look,
notoriety is what we need for a pardon.
And has there ever been an inmate
that gets as much support, love, fan mail?
No.
[printer whirring]
[Eric] Ain't nothing wrong
with being a trailer park Liberace, boy.
Look at this picture right here.
- Ah!
- Right.
Like something
that ought to be on a bottle of wine.
- Right?
- Yes.
- Hello?
- [man on phone] Hey, what are you doing?
Actually wrapping the Tiger King Cadillac,
believe it or not.
[Eric] Joe is gonna be so proud of this
when I send him pictures of this.
He's gonna be so proud
that it came out as good as it did.
[Brittany] Joe hired people to hunt
and murder Carole,
but people feel for Joe because Jeff Lowe
and James Garretson may have set him up.
[man 1] The only reason
the Tiger King got put in jail
is 'cause everyone put him in jail.
[laughing] The fat guy
they kept putting "businessman" under
- who owned a couple strip clubs.
- [man 2] He's an idiot, though.
- He's super cocky. I hate him.
- [man 3] Yeah.
[James on phone] I constantly get
bad reviews on my jet ski business
because of the Tiger King show.
My reviews went from a five to a three.
So I'm getting fucked with all the time.
When did you get this?
[woman] A couple weeks ago.
$14.97.
"She paid Jeff and James" Me.
"to get my zoo. Bastards."
"Be my voice. Joe Exotic."
The Tiger Queen.
Yeah, that guy's
an animal-murdering piece of shit.
- Did you write him the letter?
- We kinda all like him.
We all wrote him a letter.
I mean, what's wrong with that?
- Perfect.
- Joe's gonna hate you.
- That's okay.
- He'll be like, "Fuck that piece of shit!"
Tell Joe the life-size Chucky
came by to say hi.
[woman] I will definitely do that.
[James] The public sees me
as just the snitch, you know?
A lot of people don't know the facts.
And I've been talking to a lot of people
like Mike Busey.
I'm kind of like a preacher
that serves beer at church,
and I'm okay with strippers
and other crazy stuff.
[James] He has a big following.
He built the Sausage Castle,
where it's like an adult playground.
He has a lot of people that support him.
This used to be a garage
which is now our podcast studio.
We try to entertain the people
who follow our podcast.
You, sir, are by farone of the most
hated individuals in Tiger King,
but now, this is like your opportunity
to become the hero of the piece.
You know, everybody turned on Joe.
It wasn't just me.
Did Joe Exotic pay
to have Carole Baskins killed?
I don't think so.
I think it was some kind of scheme
that Jeff Lowe and Glover worked out,
and I mean, I'm pretty sure
Jeff Lowe was behind it all.
[Francisco] James Garretson
wanted to be a big shot,
and all of a sudden,
he gets to be a government agent.
So to avoid prosecution
on his own charges,
he starts dancing with the Devil.
If Joe Exotic is guilty
of murder for hire,
Jeff Lowe should have been
the first one prosecuted.
He drove the money.
He set up the meetings
with the government.
Joe has no criminal history.
As a matter of fact, he was the
[Francisco] Youngest police chief
in Texas.
The youngest police chief in Texas,
so I think that speaks volumes.
Jeff Lowe, on the other hand,
does have criminal history.
[Eric] How could it be
that Jeff Lowe's criminal cases
in Las Vegas are still pending?
Why were the firearm possession charges
against him not filed in Las Vegas?
He's a felon.
[Jeff] If people knew who Joe was,
there would not be
a single "Free Joe" shirt in America.
These people don't know Joe.
He is a monster,
and if you go so deep,
dark into who he is,
you'd be like, "Oh, wow!"
[Yarri Schriebvogel]
Joe screwed over a million people.
I don't understand
why all these bullshit lawyers
ain't ever talked to the right people.
Everybody says, "What do you think
about the Tiger King show?"
It's like, "Dude,
I have never watched any of it."
When you live 20 years of it,
you don't want to see it anymore.
[rifle cocking]
Adios, Joe. I still got plenty of bullets.
Actually, I haven't seen Joe
face to face in 20 years
and don't want to.
Because it ain't going to be pretty.
Here's a picture of me,
and there's Garold, and Tammy,
Pam, and Joe.
It didn't matter what he had to do
to get people to look at him,
he would do it.
It was like he was a little con.
[Joe on phone] I was born
in Garden City, Kansas
and stayed there on the farm
until I was 13.
[Yarri] We always fought,
because we always had to do the work,
and he got out of it all the time.
Joe used to walk around
with a damn BB gun shooting stuff
and then wrap 'em up
and doctor 'em back to life.
[Joe] I used to pick up
the medicine bottles
from Mom and Dad
and everybody working the cattle,
and I would fill those with colored water.
And that was my veterinarian medicine.
[Yarri] He went through stages
of being different people.
He'd dress up as a cowboy one day.
Then he'd dress up as a grandma.
And it was just like
he was in a make-believe world.
But in reality, we worked
from daylight to dark every day.
We were my dad's hired help.
And we took an ass whooping
when we were on the farm.
[Joe] My dad hit me
with an irrigation shovel,
and he almost drowned my brother.
Every time my dad done something wrong,
it was always our fault.
I've been in a broken family
my whole life. It's all I know.
That's back when we used to chase coyotes.
We had a lot of great dogs.
We took 'em all hunting.
And we used to have a black lab.
She'd have puppies.
Dad put all them puppies in a burlap sack,
and throw them in a pond,
and drowned them.
He did it
because he knew it would mess us up.
[Joe] I was raised
in an abusive situation at home,
and I was gonna break that abusive cycle.
One of the guys
I graduated high school with
was a cop in another town.
And I was like,
"You know, this would be kind of cool."
So, I decided to become a police chief
because I wanted to help people.
At the age of 19, I graduated the academy,
and I was the youngest cop
in the state of Texas.
Save the world, you know? From drugs,
and alcohol, and all that good shit.
[Ronnie O'Neal] This one here,
it was Joe and then me.
That was an arrest
that Joe and I made that night.
I remember he had a Trans Am,
and that's what he patrolled in.
It was decked out with a light bar on top,
and it had a green and a blue strobe.
I'll never forget that long as I live.
He looked like a Christmas tree
coming down the road.
[Kimberly Craft] He had a magnet
that said "police"
that he put on the side of his squad car.
He was very good-looking,
and he ended up asking me out on a date.
So we started dating.
Joe and I dated for quite a while.
I was at a point in my life
where I had two children and no husband.
My ex-husband beat me on a regular basis.
Joe was the one
that got the warrant for his arrest.
And he asked me to marry him on Christmas.
Joe introduced me
to his family as his fiancée.
[Joe on phone] I was dating
the fire chief's daughter
and lived with her for several years.
Never had sex one time.
It really made me feel special
that Joe was a gentleman
and wanted to wait to have sex.
I will admit I'm naive, okay, so I guess
When somebody says something like that,
you really want to believe it.
He would always come home late,
and some nights,
it was like he'd been drinking.
I found out later that he was stripping
for the mayor and all her friends.
They would have big parties,
and they paid him to be a stripper,
which, later in life,
I find, you know, kind of hilarious,
the chief of police
stripping for the mayor.
[Joe on phone] We had to raise money
to buy a fire truck.
So, I stripped down to a G-string
for money to buy a fire truck.
It was pretty funny.
But I never looked at the big picture
with Joe.
I mean, everybody had been telling me
that he was gay.
I didn't want to believe it, but he was.
I found out that he was going to gay bars.
Pickin' up strangers ♪
Let me tell you about the dangers ♪
[Joe on phone] I was 19 when I came out.
It was hard, real hard.
After I found out,
him and I broke off the engagement.
But anytime he had problems,
he would turn to me to help him out,
help him get through it.
He said he didn't want to be gay.
I couldn't tell you how many times
he probably attempted suicide.
[Joe on phone] It made me depressed.
I spent nights on the phone
to suicide hotlines.
Then I met Brian and cleaned up.
I met Brian when I was working security
at The Roundup,
and he was a customer.
We dated for a while, and got married,
and were together 16 years.
[Kimberly] Brian and I got along great.
He was so good with the kids.
We all spent time together.
I believe everybody in the family
knew that Brian and Joe were a couple.
Brian was included in everything.
I called Brian "Uncle Brian"
before I did Joe "Uncle Joe."
[Ronnie] Joe didn't try to pretend
to be anything that he wasn't,
but it cost him a lot.
Officers in surrounding towns
would make fun of him.
There was a couple of times
that other officers didn't want
to back us up when we needed help
for the simple fact they didn't like Joe,
which wasn't right.
[Joe on phone] I was bullied
most of my life being gay
and kicked to the side of society.
But I'm not ashamed, because you just
have to live life to the fullest.
You shouldn't be afraid to fall in love.
[melancholy country music playing]
You were my first love
The one that's gonna last ♪
A million miles later ♪
I know a lot of great people in Oklahoma.
But guess what?
A gay cowboy doesn't fit in up there
for a lot of reasons.
You were my true love
The one that's supposed to last ♪
A million miles later ♪
Still stranded in the past ♪
[Eric] For his entire life,
Joe is targeted,
just like how he was targeted
on this case.
[Joe on phone] I have the text messages
between James and Jeff
saying they want this queer in prison.
And then we have
the text messages from Jeff to Dillon
saying he's gonna beat the fag
out of Dillon.
There's a lot of folks that are homophobic
that are related to this case,
and we can prove that
in that pardon document.
The man who's the star of this show
on Netflix called Tiger King,
he's asking you for a pardon,
saying he was unfairly convicted.
Are you recommending a pardon?
- Uh, no, I'm not advocating anything.
- I'll take a look.
[chuckling] Is that Joe Exotic?
That's Joe Exotic?
- [somber country music playing]
- [crowd shouting]
[man yelling] Come on!
[Eric] We are here in the nation's capital
to deliver the presidential pardon request
to our surrogate at the White House.
Look, this is an ugly case.
You have suppressed evidence.
You have a tainted jury.
You have collusion
of law enforcement and prosecutors.
He's innocent.
We can prove it. It's all right here.
[reporter 1] And now it's official, folks,
a petition for pardon.
More than 200 pages has been filed.
[reporter 2] And we've
seen with President Trump,
he has a history of granting clemency
to celebrities
and those who are politically aligned
with his views.
Carole, can I ask you a question?
Would it bug you
if he got a presidential pardon?
Of course, because he's been trying
for decades to get somebody to kill me,
so having him back out on the streets
would be really frightening.
If anyone doesn't think he belongs
in jail for the rest of his life for that,
they have my sympathy.
Because there is a bit
of a groundswell in America, I believe,
of trying to get Donald Trump
to pardon Joe Exotic
Could we move on to something else?
Could we move on to something else?
[Eric] So we got a call
about a VIP luncheon with President Trump.
Team Tiger had a quick meeting.
We knew this would be a good opportunity.
It would put us in front of the president
and the folks that surround him,
and to continue to bring awareness
to the request that is on the desk.
Please sign the presidential pardon.
So we drove down last night,
talked to the Secret Service
and the folks
that we've already interfaced with.
- [man] I want to get a picture with you.
- Okay, come on. Chase can take it.
- He can't take it.
- I'll take it for you.
- Okay.
- Absolutely.
[Eric] But this morning, I got a text.
[announcer] It starts with breaking news!
Breaking news. President Trump
has tested positive for coronavirus.
The President and First Lady
are positive for Covid-19.
Now in quarantine at the White House.
[Joe on phone] They were supposed to
have a sit-down dinner with Don Jr.
And then his dad got admitted
to the hospital, and that went to shit.
[Eric] So, now we have to reschedule.
I'm a gambler.
When I feel something is in my favor,
I push that.
I feel that we have a 100% chance
of gaining the presidential pardon
for Joe.
Everything is in its place.
We just need the signature.
I was, and kind of still am,
a bit skeptical about Eric Love's position
being involved in Joe's case.
Eric Love is throwing all this money away
on somebody
who he's never even personally met.
That's what's kind of sketchy to me.
[Joe on phone] At least Eric Love
is trying to get Joe out of prison.
I need Dillon to help me.
It's heartbreaking for me,
because I want to get him out of there,
but it's not like
I can just walk up to the jail
and be like, "Let him out of there."
[Joe on phone] If it would
be Dillon in jail,
Joe would be on the outside
of this building with a pickaxe
trying to get a hole through the wall.
[Dillon] A lot of things have happened
since Joe's been incarcerated.
I don't know how I would feel seeing Joe.
It's not easy,
and it's extremely stressful,
and he's not okay with me when I'm going
and hanging out with my friends.
- [Dillon] What's up, birthday boy?
- [all exclaiming]
[Dillon] I didn't cause any of this.
I don't know
if we're going to stay married forever.
[Joe on phone] What makes this so hard,
we had an argument the morning
that I got arrested,
and I haven't seen him since.
You know, I've lost everything.
I lost my brother.
I lost Travis.
I lost Brian.
I've been through hell.
[Chealsi] Brian was
the glue of the family.
He always told Joe like it was.
Joe stayed in line with Brian.
But he originally got sick
with lung cancer.
It progressed a little faster
because Brian was HIV-positive.
I would go, "Grandma, does he really
have to take all that medicine?"
Because, I mean,
he just had baskets of medicine.
And she was like,
"Yeah, that's what helps him."
And he just got so bad,
it was like he was skin and bones.
Joe would rush him to the hospital
for this, that, or the other.
And then the one time
he took him to the hospital,
Brian died in the parking lot
on the way home.
And he called me,
and that was a gut-wrenching conversation.
Brian had just died in his arms.
[somber music playing]
[Heidi] Brian was his anchor.
Brian was his normal.
[Kimberly] When Joe told me about it,
he broke down and was crying.
That is what completely messed him up,
because before that,
he wasn't the monster he is now.
[Gaylynn Eastwood] The Joe in 2000,
I never saw one shred of narcissism,
but after Brian passed away,
Joe was a totally changed person.
And when I went back in 2014,
everything that I thought I knew
about Joe was just
gone.
- [woman] We're just doing like our usual?
- Yep.
Finally sold the show.
Got a record label deal.
- Got a book deal.
- That sounds exciting.
- A book deal?
- Yeah.
One of my music videos made
the Top Country Music Videos this week.
Really?
[Joe on TV] Good afternoon, ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to another fun episode
of A Day in My Life
here on JoeExoticTV.com.
Joe is all about the cameras,
and there was always a camera on him.
[Joe] Come on, go through.
Get me a stretcher!
[Reinke] Anything personal
or anything tragedy, it became a video.
We had a chimp that died.
- [man] We need a necropsy.
- I want to bury her.
[Saff] You want to bury her.
[Reinke] I wanted to find out
what happened,
but he wouldn't let me do a necropsy.
Couldn't do it. Won't cut him up.
Had to bury it right away.
[melancholy music playing]
Say something, I'm giving up on you ♪
Anywhere, I would've ♪
[Reinke] Joe made a video burying it,
like a funeral.
He put a Joe Exotic shirt on it
and everything.
- [music continues]
- Say something, I'm giving up on you ♪
[Reinke] Everything Joe did
was for the attention.
This is the part I don't know what to do.
I don't know what the video will be doing,
if you'll be showing something else.
- [soft music playing]
- Oh, my Lord, I'm so confused ♪
Curl up on the rafter
and let me look at God.
- [both laughing]
- [Reinke] Straight up there.
God, man, the next money I have,
I'm buying that big screen TV
so we've got a teleprompter.
[John Finlay] He was an attention seeker.
He knows how to manipulate people,
how to get 'em to do what he wants.
A lot of the bad stuff I've locked away
because I don't want to focus on it.
Wherever Joe went, he left a wake
of misery, pain, and suffering.
People like John Reinke,
you know, he lost everything.
Saff. Saff lost his arm.
You know, I lost my mind.
I lost my sanity.
[Saff] When I took a step back
and kind of looked back
at my experience on that park,
I know now that I wasn't doing
what was best for those animals.
If Joe wanted to get rid of an animal,
he would make sure that it got done.
[man] Did anybody get that dart?
The evidence is unequivocal.
The animals are the ultimate victims here.
But I do not believe that Joe Exotic
deserves to be in jail for 22 years.
[Joe] They didn't think they could
get the murder-for-hire charges to stick,
so they stuck me with 18 animal charges
to make me look like
this horrible animal murderer.
[Francisco] All the wildlife counts
were added
because the murder-for-hire case
was so weak.
You have a better chance
of winning a sex offender case
than you do a cruelty-to-animals case,
and they were going to do
whatever it took to convict him.
[Joe] The only thing that concerns me
right now is getting out of this jail
and showing everybody the truth.
President Trump, this is
Joseph Maldonado-Passage.
The world knows me as Joe Exotic.
For the last over a decade,
I have been harassed and chased by a woman
by the name of Carole Baskin,
which would be the same thing
as a Nancy Pelosi for you.
My legal team can prove to you
the convictions that I got was unwarranted
for anything that I've done wrong.
So I'm asking you please,
as an American citizen, to sign my pardon.
[reporter 1] The President's supporters
flocked to the nation's capital
in Stop the Steal protests.
[reporter 2] DC leaders preparing
for pro-Trump supporters coming back
to protest the results of the election.
[Eric] I've got liquor.
We got cups. We got beer.
I brought everything but toenail clippers.
[Reinke] I'm glad.
Well, today, as you can see, we're taking
the Exotic 1 to Washington DC.
We're asking for President Trump
to please put the pen to the paper
to sign the pardon.
This is John Reinke. Everyone knows him
from the Tiger King series.
Joe's gotta get out of there
so we can right this wrong.
All we gotta do is be seen.
Look at me. We're going to be seen.
We think today's gonna be a great day.
We look forward
to heading to Washington DC.
[man] All right, gentlemen.
Fantastic. Anybody else?
[Reinke] I'm just loading in. I just want
["Come Fly With Me"
by Frank Sinatra playing]
Come fly with me, let's fly
Let's fly away ♪
If you can use some exotic booze ♪
There's a bar in far Bombay ♪
Today is the day American patriots
start taking down names
and kicking ass!
[Eric] So, hey, our main mission today
is this big banner.
We're gonna hold it up,
we're gonna get it out,
and it's gonna be great.
[Trump on mic] We have
hundreds of thousands of people here.
These people
are not going to take it any longer.
They're not going to take it any longer.
What are you guys out here for today?
So, I'm the leader of Team Tiger.
We're asking for an immediate signature
on the presidential pardon request
that we've submitted.
And then late in the evening
or early in the morning,
boom, these explosions of bullshit.
[woman] Why are you here?
Why are you here?
- [Eric] Why are you here?
- I'm here for America! This is garbage!
- [Eric] Okay.
- This is trash!
- You are not in the right place.
- We're in the right place.
Look around you. Do you see
any other fucking Joe Exotic signs?
Do you see one? Even one?
- You guys are gutter sluts!
- She's fantastic.
You don't belong here! Gutter sluts!
No Republican believes
abusing tigers is okay.
Nobody wants you to pardon
Joe Exotic. Nobody!
[Eric] Let's go down the street.
[woman] We all think he's trash!
[Eric] We're going to move down
towards the street.
We will never give up.
We will never concede. It doesn't happen.
You don't concede
when there's theft involved.
- [Eric] As we leave Washington DC
- [alert beeping]
we get an alert, and it looks like
all hell's breaking loose.
[Reinke] They said after Mike Pence
said he wasn't gonna object
to the states giving Biden
their electoral votes,
it all went to shit.
[crowd clamoring]
[gun firing]
[man] Shots fired! Shots fired!
[Reinke] I'm sure people ain't happy.
I hope our banner got noticed.
[reporter 1] Donald Trump chose not to
pardon Joseph Maldonado-Passage.
[reporter 2] His team was so confident
he would walk away from prison,
a limo was waiting to whisk him away.
[Joe on phone] Who's gonna
feel sorry for a guy
that's got
a stretch fucking truck limousine outside?
I think Fran
and Eric Love went a little overboard
with the plane, and the bus,
and the limos, and all that bullshit.
I'm fed up with the whole mess, okay?
Why am I in here?
Who benefited from me being in prison?
Who benefited from having my mouth shut?
Carole Baskin.
I know a lot of people are gonna say,
"Joe's been stalking Carole
all these years."
But this was about getting to the truth
about Carole Baskin and Don Lewis.
Her husband, Don Lewis,
has been missing since 1997.
Folks, remember
the $10,000 reward we have up
for any information
leading to the whereabouts of Don's body,
so we can finally put Carole
where she belongs,
in the state penitentiary.
Why is she walking free?
And I'm the one in prison?
I'm looking for someone else
to start digging
into Don Lewis' disappearance.
If you give a damn, it's time to speak up.
[intriguing music playing]
[Ripper Jack] All right.
So Joe was on to a lot of stuff.
Joe had a lot of information.
We cannot discount
some of the things that he has said.
My name is Jack, but I go by Ripper.
I am a armchair detective,
an internet sleuth.
I have no background in law.
I tell people
I got my lawyer degree from Google.
I remember
I sent a message to this friend,
"Have you seen Tiger King?"
She sent a message back, "Yes."
And I said, "Maybe we should start
like a Facebook group for Don Lewis."
So for those of you out there
that have information about this,
it's time to spill the beans.
Law enforcement normally do not like us.
They think we're stepping on their toes,
but this is a job
that should have been done 23 years ago.
[reporter] This is Easy Street,
and at the end of this street,
past this locked gate is Big Cat Rescue.
Also at the end of this street,
a lot of questions
about what happened to Don.
[Jerry Mitchell] I've worked
a number of cold cases.
I've investigated Klansmen,
and I've investigated serial killers,
but the disappearance
of Don Lewis just struck me as one
that really hadn't been investigated.
[Stephen Colbert]
Please welcome Jerry Mitchell.
How many people have gone to jail
for their crimes
because of the stories you've done?
Four.
- Four?
- Yeah.
[reporter] A lot of people are wondering
what happened to Don Lewis.
The big train of thought is
Carole Baskin had something to do
with her husband's disappearance.
[woman] There she is.
That's Carole Baskin.
[reporter] Now the unsolved case is
garnering new interest from authorities.
The sheriff
of Hillsborough County now talking
about the mysterious disappearance
of Don Lewis.
[Chad Chronister] This has spanned
over the careers of a lot of sheriffs.
The leads have been exhausted,
but I hope someone will feel comfortable
coming forward,
providing that missing piece
and helps us bring justice
for Don Lewis' family.
Hey, what's up, everyone?
It's Ripper here. I am in Tampa.
[Jerry] These twin lives
of Don and Carole,
what do they look like?
I want to know these lives.
Because if I know these lives,
then you can find out
what happened to Don.
[dramatic music playing]
[dramatic music continues]
[clock ticking]
- [ticking stops]
- [country music playing on TV]
[on TV] My name is Joe Exotic,
and this is Thunder and Lightning!
Hi, I'm Carole Baskin, and I'm the founder
and CEO of Big Cat Rescue.
[John Reinke] Animal people are nuts, man,
and I might be one of them people.
[reporter 1] Tigers are so hot right now!
[reporter 2] Let's talk about
the Tiger King first.
Is that Joe Exotic? That's Joe Exotic?
[Joe Rogan] Have you heard about this dude
who's in a battle with a lady
who might've fed her ex-husband to tigers?
Hey, all you cool cats and kittens,
it's Carole Baskin.
[reporter 3] People cannot get enough
of his feud with Carole Baskin.
[reporter 4] Much like Joe, the effort
to free him is flashy and over the top.
I've been in prison because of
Carole [bleeping] Baskin, you bitch!
[soft country music playing]
[automated voice]
You have a prepaid call from
[Joe] Joe Exotic.
[automated voice]
an inmate at a federal prison.
[Joe on phone] I'm sitting on a trash can.
[woman laughing]
You're sitting on a trash can?
You know, it would be nice
if I could actually see
me being famous out there.
But I mean, I've seen these same
four walls for a year and a half now.
I would love to be able
to watch the documentary.
Maybe later down the road, I can.
But, you know, with all of the guards,
they're singing my music videos, and
you know, wanting autographs,
and saying they're gonna
buy my underwear off the internet.
It's fun. You know, it's cool.
I would love to be able
to walk out of here,
but I can't.
[indistinct chatter]
[Reinke] Selfies are 15.
[woman] All right.
[Reinke] Cool.
[Joe on phone] Everybody from the zoo
is out there making money
using "Joe Exotic" and talking shit.
Joe is a lost, lonely guy
that just went way too far.
Sorry, buddy, but you did what you did,
and now you gotta serve your time for it.
[Joe on phone] I'm paying the price
for every one of them people.
My big, handsome boy.
[Joe on phone] I'm done with it.
I will die making sure
that they end up in prison.
Yeah. Welcome to my world of bullshit.
[epic country music playing]
[announcer 1] Gentlemen,
start your engines!
[reporter 1] Things have
changed in Wynnewood.
With Joe now in prison,
this cast of characters
are moving forward.
[announcer 2] Dancing the pasodoble,
it's Carole Baskin!
[reporter 2] The Tiger King empire
might be completely declawed.
[reporter 3] Congress making a big push
to ban backyard big cats.
They think taking my animals
is gonna shut me up?
Watch how the fucking game is played.
[Joe on phone] I am trying to
get the fuck out of here.
If I have to make a deal with the Devil,
I will make a deal with the Devil.
[country music crescendos]
[soft country music playing]
[Jeff Lowe] Tiger King
changed our lives overnight.
Anywhere we go, people know my name.
I think it makes sense to capitalize.
I thought, "You know what,
how badass would it be to have a big 'TK'
right in the center of the park
when you came in?"
[reporter] Many are in a rush
to get out of quarantine,
and this place first
on their list of trips.
The virus not giving anyone here pause.
[Jeff] I bet you we've taken 20
- 30,000 photographs with people.
- It's incredible.
[Brittany Peet] We saw huge crowds
and lines of people.
Jeff seemed to be making money
hand over fist.
[woman] Oh my
[Brittany] Even though we knew
that tigers could contract Covid-19.
PETA has submitted a lot of complaints
about conditions for animals
at Jeff Lowe's facility.
[Jeff] PETA is
conspiring to put us out of business
when we're not doing a thing wrong.
We've gotten lots of trespassers,
several death threats.
[woman] I'm sorry, who are you?
This is private property.
This is private. Who the fuck are y'all?
[man] We're subcontractors
- For who?
- [man] For a production.
- Uh, we're not at liberty to say.
- Then you can get the fuck off.
[Jeff] Quit pointing this fucker at me!
So, we brought John in from Vegas.
Come on our property,
and this is what you'll deal with.
[gun firing]
[Joe on phone] There's an innocent man
in prison because of Jeff Lowe.
It's insane.
I gotta get the hell out of this jail.
[all] Free Joe Exotic!
[Dillon Passage]
I absolutely love Joe, but
you know,
I don't want to be forever known as
just "Joe Exotic's husband."
I want to be Dillon Passage.
[Joe on phone] Dillon turned into
a little monster,
because he wants his five minutes of fame.
My name is Jeff Duncan. I'm Dillon's boss.
Ah! False.
[laughing]
He's my manager.
Okay, he's my boss.
We're about to have my merch drop.
This one, we have been told,
is extremely effective,
and we can call it Tail Brightener.
Some people call it anal bleach.
I really thought this was for your face.
We've been instructed not to put it
on our face. Don't put it on your face.
[man] And three, two
I'm John Reinke. When you
have an accident, and it's serious
- Ah, fuck.
- No, I like that right there, strong.
[man] Let's go again.
[Reinke] I think Joe might get out.
I really do.
Everybody thinks Joe was done wrongly,
so Joe needs to be out.
Hey, y'all, I just got a letter
from the Tiger King.
I wrote him a few months ago.
Didn't expect to get it back, but I did.
Joe Exotic needs you more now than ever.
He shouldn't be in jail,
because he is innocent.
[Saff Saffery] This is what he wanted,
to be on every social media platform,
on every billboard,
to be the talk of the town.
Joe has been famous
in his own head forever.
- Help!
- Stole my
I was incredibly disappointed
by the public's reaction to Carole
versus the reaction to Joe.
Hi, my name's Jimmy
[Brittany] The reaction to Joe
was #FreeJoeExotic,
certain people treating him
like some kind of folk hero
when he was convicted
of trying to murder this woman.
But the negative stuff we saw was,
"That bitch Carole Baskin."
When we find that bitch Carole Baskin,
we're gonna put her head on a stick.
She was terrorized for so long by Joe.
Now, all these other people
are coming after her.
[officer] This is the Hillsborough County
Sheriff's Office.
[woman] I am part of a Facebook group
for that thing that came out on Netflix.
[officer] Okay.
[woman] And there's
threats of hundreds of people
bum-rushing the owner
and hurting the owner.
The vast majority of the calls,
and social posts, and emails
that I was getting were so hateful.
I couldn't leave my phone on
because I couldn't sleep.
It was just constantly ringing.
[man] Carole, it's an emergency.
I found an injured bobcat
on the corner of
- I know you murdered your husband, you
- [phone beeps]
- [woman] Free Joe Exotic! Free Joe Exotic!
- [phone beeps]
[man] You put a hero behind bars.
There's a clear, ridiculous,
misogynistic double standard there.
There's not a shred of doubt in my mind
that that lady's husband
is tiger sashimi right now.
I'm just saying. [laughing]
[Sam Roberts] The people were exposed
to a great criminal injustice,
and that's the fact
that Joe Exotic went to jail.
He's asking for a presidential pardon.
[Trump Jr.] I've heard that.
Is that true, though?
Or is that just someone coming up with it?
It sounds true.
It sounds like something
Joe would ask for. Yeah.
It does.
If he has to go through
another trial and everything,
we're talking about years
and lots and lots of money.
The presidential pardon
would just get him out.
[Eric Love] I can guarantee you
that a presidential pardon
has never been done like this
in US history.
We're using the biggest bus on US soil.
We're putting on a show.
I reached out to Joe and explained
to him that I had looked at his case,
and I felt like we had a good opportunity
to blow holes all through it.
I think we can get him released.
I've assembled a team right now
that is gonna put
the five finger death punch on this case.
Around the beginning of Covid,
Joe was transferred to Fort Worth.
Eric called me and said he had a case
for us to work on if I was interested.
He told me what it was, and I said,
"I'm in, whatever it is. It's fun."
Our investigators have uncovered
quite a bit of evidence that was unknown
at the time of trial
and obviously affected the trial.
Joe got screwed.
But, look,
notoriety is what we need for a pardon.
And has there ever been an inmate
that gets as much support, love, fan mail?
No.
[printer whirring]
[Eric] Ain't nothing wrong
with being a trailer park Liberace, boy.
Look at this picture right here.
- Ah!
- Right.
Like something
that ought to be on a bottle of wine.
- Right?
- Yes.
- Hello?
- [man on phone] Hey, what are you doing?
Actually wrapping the Tiger King Cadillac,
believe it or not.
[Eric] Joe is gonna be so proud of this
when I send him pictures of this.
He's gonna be so proud
that it came out as good as it did.
[Brittany] Joe hired people to hunt
and murder Carole,
but people feel for Joe because Jeff Lowe
and James Garretson may have set him up.
[man 1] The only reason
the Tiger King got put in jail
is 'cause everyone put him in jail.
[laughing] The fat guy
they kept putting "businessman" under
- who owned a couple strip clubs.
- [man 2] He's an idiot, though.
- He's super cocky. I hate him.
- [man 3] Yeah.
[James on phone] I constantly get
bad reviews on my jet ski business
because of the Tiger King show.
My reviews went from a five to a three.
So I'm getting fucked with all the time.
When did you get this?
[woman] A couple weeks ago.
$14.97.
"She paid Jeff and James" Me.
"to get my zoo. Bastards."
"Be my voice. Joe Exotic."
The Tiger Queen.
Yeah, that guy's
an animal-murdering piece of shit.
- Did you write him the letter?
- We kinda all like him.
We all wrote him a letter.
I mean, what's wrong with that?
- Perfect.
- Joe's gonna hate you.
- That's okay.
- He'll be like, "Fuck that piece of shit!"
Tell Joe the life-size Chucky
came by to say hi.
[woman] I will definitely do that.
[James] The public sees me
as just the snitch, you know?
A lot of people don't know the facts.
And I've been talking to a lot of people
like Mike Busey.
I'm kind of like a preacher
that serves beer at church,
and I'm okay with strippers
and other crazy stuff.
[James] He has a big following.
He built the Sausage Castle,
where it's like an adult playground.
He has a lot of people that support him.
This used to be a garage
which is now our podcast studio.
We try to entertain the people
who follow our podcast.
You, sir, are by farone of the most
hated individuals in Tiger King,
but now, this is like your opportunity
to become the hero of the piece.
You know, everybody turned on Joe.
It wasn't just me.
Did Joe Exotic pay
to have Carole Baskins killed?
I don't think so.
I think it was some kind of scheme
that Jeff Lowe and Glover worked out,
and I mean, I'm pretty sure
Jeff Lowe was behind it all.
[Francisco] James Garretson
wanted to be a big shot,
and all of a sudden,
he gets to be a government agent.
So to avoid prosecution
on his own charges,
he starts dancing with the Devil.
If Joe Exotic is guilty
of murder for hire,
Jeff Lowe should have been
the first one prosecuted.
He drove the money.
He set up the meetings
with the government.
Joe has no criminal history.
As a matter of fact, he was the
[Francisco] Youngest police chief
in Texas.
The youngest police chief in Texas,
so I think that speaks volumes.
Jeff Lowe, on the other hand,
does have criminal history.
[Eric] How could it be
that Jeff Lowe's criminal cases
in Las Vegas are still pending?
Why were the firearm possession charges
against him not filed in Las Vegas?
He's a felon.
[Jeff] If people knew who Joe was,
there would not be
a single "Free Joe" shirt in America.
These people don't know Joe.
He is a monster,
and if you go so deep,
dark into who he is,
you'd be like, "Oh, wow!"
[Yarri Schriebvogel]
Joe screwed over a million people.
I don't understand
why all these bullshit lawyers
ain't ever talked to the right people.
Everybody says, "What do you think
about the Tiger King show?"
It's like, "Dude,
I have never watched any of it."
When you live 20 years of it,
you don't want to see it anymore.
[rifle cocking]
Adios, Joe. I still got plenty of bullets.
Actually, I haven't seen Joe
face to face in 20 years
and don't want to.
Because it ain't going to be pretty.
Here's a picture of me,
and there's Garold, and Tammy,
Pam, and Joe.
It didn't matter what he had to do
to get people to look at him,
he would do it.
It was like he was a little con.
[Joe on phone] I was born
in Garden City, Kansas
and stayed there on the farm
until I was 13.
[Yarri] We always fought,
because we always had to do the work,
and he got out of it all the time.
Joe used to walk around
with a damn BB gun shooting stuff
and then wrap 'em up
and doctor 'em back to life.
[Joe] I used to pick up
the medicine bottles
from Mom and Dad
and everybody working the cattle,
and I would fill those with colored water.
And that was my veterinarian medicine.
[Yarri] He went through stages
of being different people.
He'd dress up as a cowboy one day.
Then he'd dress up as a grandma.
And it was just like
he was in a make-believe world.
But in reality, we worked
from daylight to dark every day.
We were my dad's hired help.
And we took an ass whooping
when we were on the farm.
[Joe] My dad hit me
with an irrigation shovel,
and he almost drowned my brother.
Every time my dad done something wrong,
it was always our fault.
I've been in a broken family
my whole life. It's all I know.
That's back when we used to chase coyotes.
We had a lot of great dogs.
We took 'em all hunting.
And we used to have a black lab.
She'd have puppies.
Dad put all them puppies in a burlap sack,
and throw them in a pond,
and drowned them.
He did it
because he knew it would mess us up.
[Joe] I was raised
in an abusive situation at home,
and I was gonna break that abusive cycle.
One of the guys
I graduated high school with
was a cop in another town.
And I was like,
"You know, this would be kind of cool."
So, I decided to become a police chief
because I wanted to help people.
At the age of 19, I graduated the academy,
and I was the youngest cop
in the state of Texas.
Save the world, you know? From drugs,
and alcohol, and all that good shit.
[Ronnie O'Neal] This one here,
it was Joe and then me.
That was an arrest
that Joe and I made that night.
I remember he had a Trans Am,
and that's what he patrolled in.
It was decked out with a light bar on top,
and it had a green and a blue strobe.
I'll never forget that long as I live.
He looked like a Christmas tree
coming down the road.
[Kimberly Craft] He had a magnet
that said "police"
that he put on the side of his squad car.
He was very good-looking,
and he ended up asking me out on a date.
So we started dating.
Joe and I dated for quite a while.
I was at a point in my life
where I had two children and no husband.
My ex-husband beat me on a regular basis.
Joe was the one
that got the warrant for his arrest.
And he asked me to marry him on Christmas.
Joe introduced me
to his family as his fiancée.
[Joe on phone] I was dating
the fire chief's daughter
and lived with her for several years.
Never had sex one time.
It really made me feel special
that Joe was a gentleman
and wanted to wait to have sex.
I will admit I'm naive, okay, so I guess
When somebody says something like that,
you really want to believe it.
He would always come home late,
and some nights,
it was like he'd been drinking.
I found out later that he was stripping
for the mayor and all her friends.
They would have big parties,
and they paid him to be a stripper,
which, later in life,
I find, you know, kind of hilarious,
the chief of police
stripping for the mayor.
[Joe on phone] We had to raise money
to buy a fire truck.
So, I stripped down to a G-string
for money to buy a fire truck.
It was pretty funny.
But I never looked at the big picture
with Joe.
I mean, everybody had been telling me
that he was gay.
I didn't want to believe it, but he was.
I found out that he was going to gay bars.
Pickin' up strangers ♪
Let me tell you about the dangers ♪
[Joe on phone] I was 19 when I came out.
It was hard, real hard.
After I found out,
him and I broke off the engagement.
But anytime he had problems,
he would turn to me to help him out,
help him get through it.
He said he didn't want to be gay.
I couldn't tell you how many times
he probably attempted suicide.
[Joe on phone] It made me depressed.
I spent nights on the phone
to suicide hotlines.
Then I met Brian and cleaned up.
I met Brian when I was working security
at The Roundup,
and he was a customer.
We dated for a while, and got married,
and were together 16 years.
[Kimberly] Brian and I got along great.
He was so good with the kids.
We all spent time together.
I believe everybody in the family
knew that Brian and Joe were a couple.
Brian was included in everything.
I called Brian "Uncle Brian"
before I did Joe "Uncle Joe."
[Ronnie] Joe didn't try to pretend
to be anything that he wasn't,
but it cost him a lot.
Officers in surrounding towns
would make fun of him.
There was a couple of times
that other officers didn't want
to back us up when we needed help
for the simple fact they didn't like Joe,
which wasn't right.
[Joe on phone] I was bullied
most of my life being gay
and kicked to the side of society.
But I'm not ashamed, because you just
have to live life to the fullest.
You shouldn't be afraid to fall in love.
[melancholy country music playing]
You were my first love
The one that's gonna last ♪
A million miles later ♪
I know a lot of great people in Oklahoma.
But guess what?
A gay cowboy doesn't fit in up there
for a lot of reasons.
You were my true love
The one that's supposed to last ♪
A million miles later ♪
Still stranded in the past ♪
[Eric] For his entire life,
Joe is targeted,
just like how he was targeted
on this case.
[Joe on phone] I have the text messages
between James and Jeff
saying they want this queer in prison.
And then we have
the text messages from Jeff to Dillon
saying he's gonna beat the fag
out of Dillon.
There's a lot of folks that are homophobic
that are related to this case,
and we can prove that
in that pardon document.
The man who's the star of this show
on Netflix called Tiger King,
he's asking you for a pardon,
saying he was unfairly convicted.
Are you recommending a pardon?
- Uh, no, I'm not advocating anything.
- I'll take a look.
[chuckling] Is that Joe Exotic?
That's Joe Exotic?
- [somber country music playing]
- [crowd shouting]
[man yelling] Come on!
[Eric] We are here in the nation's capital
to deliver the presidential pardon request
to our surrogate at the White House.
Look, this is an ugly case.
You have suppressed evidence.
You have a tainted jury.
You have collusion
of law enforcement and prosecutors.
He's innocent.
We can prove it. It's all right here.
[reporter 1] And now it's official, folks,
a petition for pardon.
More than 200 pages has been filed.
[reporter 2] And we've
seen with President Trump,
he has a history of granting clemency
to celebrities
and those who are politically aligned
with his views.
Carole, can I ask you a question?
Would it bug you
if he got a presidential pardon?
Of course, because he's been trying
for decades to get somebody to kill me,
so having him back out on the streets
would be really frightening.
If anyone doesn't think he belongs
in jail for the rest of his life for that,
they have my sympathy.
Because there is a bit
of a groundswell in America, I believe,
of trying to get Donald Trump
to pardon Joe Exotic
Could we move on to something else?
Could we move on to something else?
[Eric] So we got a call
about a VIP luncheon with President Trump.
Team Tiger had a quick meeting.
We knew this would be a good opportunity.
It would put us in front of the president
and the folks that surround him,
and to continue to bring awareness
to the request that is on the desk.
Please sign the presidential pardon.
So we drove down last night,
talked to the Secret Service
and the folks
that we've already interfaced with.
- [man] I want to get a picture with you.
- Okay, come on. Chase can take it.
- He can't take it.
- I'll take it for you.
- Okay.
- Absolutely.
[Eric] But this morning, I got a text.
[announcer] It starts with breaking news!
Breaking news. President Trump
has tested positive for coronavirus.
The President and First Lady
are positive for Covid-19.
Now in quarantine at the White House.
[Joe on phone] They were supposed to
have a sit-down dinner with Don Jr.
And then his dad got admitted
to the hospital, and that went to shit.
[Eric] So, now we have to reschedule.
I'm a gambler.
When I feel something is in my favor,
I push that.
I feel that we have a 100% chance
of gaining the presidential pardon
for Joe.
Everything is in its place.
We just need the signature.
I was, and kind of still am,
a bit skeptical about Eric Love's position
being involved in Joe's case.
Eric Love is throwing all this money away
on somebody
who he's never even personally met.
That's what's kind of sketchy to me.
[Joe on phone] At least Eric Love
is trying to get Joe out of prison.
I need Dillon to help me.
It's heartbreaking for me,
because I want to get him out of there,
but it's not like
I can just walk up to the jail
and be like, "Let him out of there."
[Joe on phone] If it would
be Dillon in jail,
Joe would be on the outside
of this building with a pickaxe
trying to get a hole through the wall.
[Dillon] A lot of things have happened
since Joe's been incarcerated.
I don't know how I would feel seeing Joe.
It's not easy,
and it's extremely stressful,
and he's not okay with me when I'm going
and hanging out with my friends.
- [Dillon] What's up, birthday boy?
- [all exclaiming]
[Dillon] I didn't cause any of this.
I don't know
if we're going to stay married forever.
[Joe on phone] What makes this so hard,
we had an argument the morning
that I got arrested,
and I haven't seen him since.
You know, I've lost everything.
I lost my brother.
I lost Travis.
I lost Brian.
I've been through hell.
[Chealsi] Brian was
the glue of the family.
He always told Joe like it was.
Joe stayed in line with Brian.
But he originally got sick
with lung cancer.
It progressed a little faster
because Brian was HIV-positive.
I would go, "Grandma, does he really
have to take all that medicine?"
Because, I mean,
he just had baskets of medicine.
And she was like,
"Yeah, that's what helps him."
And he just got so bad,
it was like he was skin and bones.
Joe would rush him to the hospital
for this, that, or the other.
And then the one time
he took him to the hospital,
Brian died in the parking lot
on the way home.
And he called me,
and that was a gut-wrenching conversation.
Brian had just died in his arms.
[somber music playing]
[Heidi] Brian was his anchor.
Brian was his normal.
[Kimberly] When Joe told me about it,
he broke down and was crying.
That is what completely messed him up,
because before that,
he wasn't the monster he is now.
[Gaylynn Eastwood] The Joe in 2000,
I never saw one shred of narcissism,
but after Brian passed away,
Joe was a totally changed person.
And when I went back in 2014,
everything that I thought I knew
about Joe was just
gone.
- [woman] We're just doing like our usual?
- Yep.
Finally sold the show.
Got a record label deal.
- Got a book deal.
- That sounds exciting.
- A book deal?
- Yeah.
One of my music videos made
the Top Country Music Videos this week.
Really?
[Joe on TV] Good afternoon, ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to another fun episode
of A Day in My Life
here on JoeExoticTV.com.
Joe is all about the cameras,
and there was always a camera on him.
[Joe] Come on, go through.
Get me a stretcher!
[Reinke] Anything personal
or anything tragedy, it became a video.
We had a chimp that died.
- [man] We need a necropsy.
- I want to bury her.
[Saff] You want to bury her.
[Reinke] I wanted to find out
what happened,
but he wouldn't let me do a necropsy.
Couldn't do it. Won't cut him up.
Had to bury it right away.
[melancholy music playing]
Say something, I'm giving up on you ♪
Anywhere, I would've ♪
[Reinke] Joe made a video burying it,
like a funeral.
He put a Joe Exotic shirt on it
and everything.
- [music continues]
- Say something, I'm giving up on you ♪
[Reinke] Everything Joe did
was for the attention.
This is the part I don't know what to do.
I don't know what the video will be doing,
if you'll be showing something else.
- [soft music playing]
- Oh, my Lord, I'm so confused ♪
Curl up on the rafter
and let me look at God.
- [both laughing]
- [Reinke] Straight up there.
God, man, the next money I have,
I'm buying that big screen TV
so we've got a teleprompter.
[John Finlay] He was an attention seeker.
He knows how to manipulate people,
how to get 'em to do what he wants.
A lot of the bad stuff I've locked away
because I don't want to focus on it.
Wherever Joe went, he left a wake
of misery, pain, and suffering.
People like John Reinke,
you know, he lost everything.
Saff. Saff lost his arm.
You know, I lost my mind.
I lost my sanity.
[Saff] When I took a step back
and kind of looked back
at my experience on that park,
I know now that I wasn't doing
what was best for those animals.
If Joe wanted to get rid of an animal,
he would make sure that it got done.
[man] Did anybody get that dart?
The evidence is unequivocal.
The animals are the ultimate victims here.
But I do not believe that Joe Exotic
deserves to be in jail for 22 years.
[Joe] They didn't think they could
get the murder-for-hire charges to stick,
so they stuck me with 18 animal charges
to make me look like
this horrible animal murderer.
[Francisco] All the wildlife counts
were added
because the murder-for-hire case
was so weak.
You have a better chance
of winning a sex offender case
than you do a cruelty-to-animals case,
and they were going to do
whatever it took to convict him.
[Joe] The only thing that concerns me
right now is getting out of this jail
and showing everybody the truth.
President Trump, this is
Joseph Maldonado-Passage.
The world knows me as Joe Exotic.
For the last over a decade,
I have been harassed and chased by a woman
by the name of Carole Baskin,
which would be the same thing
as a Nancy Pelosi for you.
My legal team can prove to you
the convictions that I got was unwarranted
for anything that I've done wrong.
So I'm asking you please,
as an American citizen, to sign my pardon.
[reporter 1] The President's supporters
flocked to the nation's capital
in Stop the Steal protests.
[reporter 2] DC leaders preparing
for pro-Trump supporters coming back
to protest the results of the election.
[Eric] I've got liquor.
We got cups. We got beer.
I brought everything but toenail clippers.
[Reinke] I'm glad.
Well, today, as you can see, we're taking
the Exotic 1 to Washington DC.
We're asking for President Trump
to please put the pen to the paper
to sign the pardon.
This is John Reinke. Everyone knows him
from the Tiger King series.
Joe's gotta get out of there
so we can right this wrong.
All we gotta do is be seen.
Look at me. We're going to be seen.
We think today's gonna be a great day.
We look forward
to heading to Washington DC.
[man] All right, gentlemen.
Fantastic. Anybody else?
[Reinke] I'm just loading in. I just want
["Come Fly With Me"
by Frank Sinatra playing]
Come fly with me, let's fly
Let's fly away ♪
If you can use some exotic booze ♪
There's a bar in far Bombay ♪
Today is the day American patriots
start taking down names
and kicking ass!
[Eric] So, hey, our main mission today
is this big banner.
We're gonna hold it up,
we're gonna get it out,
and it's gonna be great.
[Trump on mic] We have
hundreds of thousands of people here.
These people
are not going to take it any longer.
They're not going to take it any longer.
What are you guys out here for today?
So, I'm the leader of Team Tiger.
We're asking for an immediate signature
on the presidential pardon request
that we've submitted.
And then late in the evening
or early in the morning,
boom, these explosions of bullshit.
[woman] Why are you here?
Why are you here?
- [Eric] Why are you here?
- I'm here for America! This is garbage!
- [Eric] Okay.
- This is trash!
- You are not in the right place.
- We're in the right place.
Look around you. Do you see
any other fucking Joe Exotic signs?
Do you see one? Even one?
- You guys are gutter sluts!
- She's fantastic.
You don't belong here! Gutter sluts!
No Republican believes
abusing tigers is okay.
Nobody wants you to pardon
Joe Exotic. Nobody!
[Eric] Let's go down the street.
[woman] We all think he's trash!
[Eric] We're going to move down
towards the street.
We will never give up.
We will never concede. It doesn't happen.
You don't concede
when there's theft involved.
- [Eric] As we leave Washington DC
- [alert beeping]
we get an alert, and it looks like
all hell's breaking loose.
[Reinke] They said after Mike Pence
said he wasn't gonna object
to the states giving Biden
their electoral votes,
it all went to shit.
[crowd clamoring]
[gun firing]
[man] Shots fired! Shots fired!
[Reinke] I'm sure people ain't happy.
I hope our banner got noticed.
[reporter 1] Donald Trump chose not to
pardon Joseph Maldonado-Passage.
[reporter 2] His team was so confident
he would walk away from prison,
a limo was waiting to whisk him away.
[Joe on phone] Who's gonna
feel sorry for a guy
that's got
a stretch fucking truck limousine outside?
I think Fran
and Eric Love went a little overboard
with the plane, and the bus,
and the limos, and all that bullshit.
I'm fed up with the whole mess, okay?
Why am I in here?
Who benefited from me being in prison?
Who benefited from having my mouth shut?
Carole Baskin.
I know a lot of people are gonna say,
"Joe's been stalking Carole
all these years."
But this was about getting to the truth
about Carole Baskin and Don Lewis.
Her husband, Don Lewis,
has been missing since 1997.
Folks, remember
the $10,000 reward we have up
for any information
leading to the whereabouts of Don's body,
so we can finally put Carole
where she belongs,
in the state penitentiary.
Why is she walking free?
And I'm the one in prison?
I'm looking for someone else
to start digging
into Don Lewis' disappearance.
If you give a damn, it's time to speak up.
[intriguing music playing]
[Ripper Jack] All right.
So Joe was on to a lot of stuff.
Joe had a lot of information.
We cannot discount
some of the things that he has said.
My name is Jack, but I go by Ripper.
I am a armchair detective,
an internet sleuth.
I have no background in law.
I tell people
I got my lawyer degree from Google.
I remember
I sent a message to this friend,
"Have you seen Tiger King?"
She sent a message back, "Yes."
And I said, "Maybe we should start
like a Facebook group for Don Lewis."
So for those of you out there
that have information about this,
it's time to spill the beans.
Law enforcement normally do not like us.
They think we're stepping on their toes,
but this is a job
that should have been done 23 years ago.
[reporter] This is Easy Street,
and at the end of this street,
past this locked gate is Big Cat Rescue.
Also at the end of this street,
a lot of questions
about what happened to Don.
[Jerry Mitchell] I've worked
a number of cold cases.
I've investigated Klansmen,
and I've investigated serial killers,
but the disappearance
of Don Lewis just struck me as one
that really hadn't been investigated.
[Stephen Colbert]
Please welcome Jerry Mitchell.
How many people have gone to jail
for their crimes
because of the stories you've done?
Four.
- Four?
- Yeah.
[reporter] A lot of people are wondering
what happened to Don Lewis.
The big train of thought is
Carole Baskin had something to do
with her husband's disappearance.
[woman] There she is.
That's Carole Baskin.
[reporter] Now the unsolved case is
garnering new interest from authorities.
The sheriff
of Hillsborough County now talking
about the mysterious disappearance
of Don Lewis.
[Chad Chronister] This has spanned
over the careers of a lot of sheriffs.
The leads have been exhausted,
but I hope someone will feel comfortable
coming forward,
providing that missing piece
and helps us bring justice
for Don Lewis' family.
Hey, what's up, everyone?
It's Ripper here. I am in Tampa.
[Jerry] These twin lives
of Don and Carole,
what do they look like?
I want to know these lives.
Because if I know these lives,
then you can find out
what happened to Don.
[dramatic music playing]
[dramatic music continues]