Former zoo owner Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado, is currently serving a 21-year prison term following his 2020 conviction on charges of murder-for-hire and animal abuse.
Exotic gained widespread attention in 2020 after the release of Netflix’s Tiger King, a 12-episode documentary that showcased the operations at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma and delved into his feud with animal rights activist Carole Baskin, which ultimately led to the murder-for-hire plot that landed him in prison. Exotic was originally sentenced to 22 years in prison, but a panel of three judges reduced his sentence by one year after his lawyers argued that the two murder-for-hire counts should be treated as one since they involved the same goal.
Exotic has been pleading for a pardon from Trump since 2020. Back then, Donald Trump Jr. jokingly said he was in favor of Exotic getting a pardon. During a press conference, a New York Post reporter asked Trump whether he’d be looking into Exotic’s request, to which he answered that he knew “nothing about it” but said, “I’ll take a look.” Nothing came of that statement then, and now that Trump is officially back in office, Exotic is pleading his case once again.
After the Nov. 2024 elections, Exotic wrote to then-President-elect Trump through Trump ally Matt Gaetz, seeking a pardon. In his letter, Exotic cited his battle with “two types of cancer” and questioned why he was still in prison when government witnesses at his trial admitted to perjury. He also urged Gaetz to use his influence to “correct” the situation or recommend a pardon from Trump. Additionally, Exotic expressed his interest in becoming the Director of the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming he could “clean up the waste and corruption” within that department.
Joe Exotic turns to social media
On Jan. 21, a day after Trump’s inauguration, Exotic took to Instagram (presumably managed by a family member or his legal team) and posted an image with the text, “President Trump, You forgot me… again.” The caption, in part, read, “If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the capital [sic] or even have been related to the Bidens. I might have gotten some relief on being in prison innocent.”
Exotic was referring to the fact that Biden signed pardons for his family members before leaving office. Trump, on the other hand, pardoned the more than 1,600 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol in Jan. 2021, saying that they had already served years in prison and anything more was “ridiculous and excessive.” One of those is Pamela Hemphill, who refused the pardon, saying that they broke laws that day and should serve their sentences.
News outlets reported on Exotic’s Instagram post, writing that he “slammed” Trump and Biden. Exotic posted on X and said it was “bull***t” and claimed he didn’t slam them but was merely reminding the president and former president that they forgot about him. In a separate post on X, he tagged Trump, saying that since Hemphill turned down her pardon, the president shouldn’t “let it go to waste” and give it to him instead. He tagged Gaetz and Joe Rogan in the post as well.
Exotic, who is now 61 years old, regularly posts on social media, encouraging his followers to support his call for a pardon using the hashtag #FreeJoeExotic.
Published: Jan 23, 2025 04:51 am