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It’s wild to look back on the year 2020 now and remember that Joe Exotic was one of the biggest celebrities of the year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us had nothing to do but sit inside and binge-watch TV. Thankfully, Netflix released its wild docuseries Tiger King just at the right time for it to become a worldwide phenomenon.
Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was the anti-hero of the story. The series followed Joe’s life as a keeper of exotic animals, mostly large cats. However, the real juicy drama dealt with Joe’s longstanding feud with fellow big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin. The wild story had many twists and turns, ending with Joe going to prison for plotting a murder-for-hire scheme against Carole. Since his TV debut, Joe has spent all of his time behind bars.
Joe Exotic wants his freedom
Us Weekly recently caught up with Joe Exotic to get a glimpse at his life behind bars at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Joe recently entered remission for prostate cancer but is still in a rocky health condition. He mentioned that his doctors believe he has cancer in his left lung. “I still have faith that I’m going to walk out of here — I just need to live for the next five or six months and hope for the best,” he said.
Joe is dead set on getting released in 2025. He’s hoping that the court overturns his conviction so that he can move on with his life. Additionally, he wants to shed light on the injustices of the American prison system. “I’m in a medical facility. Part of the roof is missing, and we have plastic bags above our beds taped to the ceiling to guide water out the window. In the last week, I caught 15 rats on sticky boards under my bed. Now 140 of us have scabies,” he said. “I want to testify in front of Congress about the prison and justice system [and] what really goes on in here.” We’ll have to wait until next year to see if Joe Exotic gets to finally live as a free man again.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK JOE EXOTIC WILL BE RELEASED FROM PRISON? ARE YOU SURPRISED HE’S BEEN BEHIND BARS FOR SO LONG?
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