Warning! Full spoilers ahead for Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. Be sure to check out our spoiler-free review of Tiger King.
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Netflix’s latest docuseries is truly stranger than fiction, as it recounts the wild life of one Joseph Maldonado-Passage (aka the Tiger King, aka Joe Exotic), a mullet-sporting, trash-talking big cat owner from Oklahoma, and former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. By the time the credits roll on the final episode, Maldonado-Passage finds himself behind bars after being sentenced to 22 years in prison.
But the Tiger King isn’t one to go quietly into the night, so what’s he been up to since the series premiered, and do the documentary’s co-directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin have more big cat stories to tell in future seasons?
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What Happened to Joe Exotic?
Joe Exotic is currently serving 22-years in federal prison for two counts of murder-for-hire in an attempt to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin, and over twelve wildlife violations, including the killing of five tigers, according to a report from The Washington Post. Maldonado-Passage’s prison sentence has not silenced the eccentric big cat owner, who recently took to Facebook to share his thoughts on the Netflix series:
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“At 12:01 am Friday Morning 132 countries that get Netflix most will be trapped in their own homes with nothing to do but watch the TV series ‘Tiger King’ and the entire world will know what these people did to put me here,” Maldonado-Passage said. In a more recent post on the same Facebook page, he goes on to profess his innocence, claiming that “U.S. Attorney’s office and Agents involved will have to answer to the fact that they participated in Perjury to obtain this conviction.”
IGN spoke to Goode and Chaiklin to find out what makes big cat owners like Joe Exotic so charismatic. “All of these characters check out of mainstream life,” Goode said. “They have created their own individual universes – little ‘utopias’ – along with their own set of rules, which ultimately was Joe’s greatest downfall…. much like David Koresh, Charlie Manson, Jim Jones…they all drank the Kool-Aid.”
What Happened to Doc Antle After the Raid?
As noted in the intertitle card at the end of the finale, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari was indeed raided back in December 2019, but to this day, Antle has not been brought up on criminal charges, and his park remains open. According to a report from ABC15 News out of Myrtle Beach, Antle claims that the authorities were there due to a multi-state investigation involving three of his tigers.
“We have the three lions, they’re fabulous little babies that are here with us,” Antle told ABC15 News. “Many of our guests this summer all hugged them and met them and those lions are permanent residents here at the preserve. The lions are part of an ongoing investigation the state is working on and they wanted us to try and help them look at the trail of where the lions had come from and any ideas or evidence we had about what the lion’s lives had been before they moved here to Myrtle Beach Safari.”
Iconic wrestling star The Undertaker (aka Mark William Calaway) and his wife (Michelle McCool) posted a photo on March 14, 2020, at Antle’s facility via McCool’s Instagram account.
Jeff Lowe and the G.W. Zoo
Jeff Lowe is still running the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, which has been rebranded as The Oklahoma Zoo. According to their website, Lowe hopes to have the new facility in Thackerville, Oklahoma up and running sometime in summer 2020. Lowe’s company Facebook page has some harsh words for Maldonado-Passage, referring to him in one post as a “horrible abuser who rots in Federal prison.” The park promises that its animal care standards have been raised since Lowe took over from Maldonado-Passage.
“Since we took over, the zoo has spent thousands upon thousands getting every animal the medical treatment and proper diets that greed robbed them of. We defy anyone to find a mistreated or neglected animal here. We are one of the few zoo owners in America with a spotless USDA history.” Below is a photo of Jeff Lowe and his wife, Lauren Lowe from the zoo’s Instagram page.
Carole Baskin and The Big Cat Safety Act
Carole Baskin still operates her Big Cat Rescue out of Tampa, Florida and continues to post personal videos about her past on YouTube. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Baskin said that Joe Exotic was “just one of about a dozen of these bad guys” she was attempting to expose.
As of the time of writing, the Big Cat Public Safety Act has not passed. Per congress.gov, the proposed “bill revises requirements governing the trade of big cats (i.e., species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Specifically, it revises restrictions on the possession and exhibition of big cats, including to restrict direct contact between the public and big cats.”
Baskin went on to tell Vanity Fair that at the end of each tour, she encourages her guests to call their respective members of Congress and cosponsor the bill. The bill currently has 227 cosponsors.
Did Joe Exotic Actually Sing Those Country Songs?
Throughout the docuseries, we’re shown some of Joe Exotic’s interesting music videos for songs he’s performed about his love for tigers. One of the more controversial tracks, titled “Here Kitty Kitty,” insinuates that rival Carole Baskin killed and fed her late husband, Don Lewis, to her tigers. To this day, Carole refutes that claim and no charges have ever been brought against her regarding those allegations. In a fascinating twist, Baskin alleges that Exotic’s songs are not sung by him, and according to a report from Metro, he didn’t even write the lyrics.
“The documentary never does reveal that Joe Exotic only lip-synced to songs written and recorded by Vince Johnson and Danny Clinton,” Baskin reportedly said, going on to allege that Exotic paid Johnson to write and record these songs for $7000, and that she has the emails to prove it.
Will We Get a Season 2?
With 5,000 to 10,000 captive tigers currently in the United States, the story about big cat owners is far from over, but do the creators of Tiger King have anything left to say? Co-directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin were still filming as late as January 2020, so they do have a “surplus of footage,” per a recent interview with Vanity Fair. Goode and Chaiklin told the outlet that there’s probably room for one final episode, however, they aren’t confident that the documentary’s participants will want to be interviewed after watching the series. While there are times when the series looks like it’s poking fun at the industry, Chaiklin admits that the story isn’t black and white.
“These are people who work incredibly hard,” Chaiklin told Vanity Fair. “They’re up at the crack of dawn. They’re working all day to care for these animals even if the animals are suffering. Nothing is black and white in life. You spend time with people, and you see the good side and the bad side, so it’s complicated.”
What do you think? Would you like to see more Tiger King on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
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David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He’s also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Netflix's The Tiger King: What Happened to Joe Exotic?