Joe Exotic in Tiger King. Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images
OAN Brooke Mallory
UPDATED 5:22 PM – Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Joseph Maldonado-Passage, or “Joe Exotic the Tiger King,” as some may refer to him from his Netflix show, has decided to join the 2024 United States presidential race.
Maldonado-Passage, 60, is currently serving a 21-year federal sentence after being convicted on numerous charges, but he claims that his incarceration time will not stop him from becoming the nation’s future 47th president. He is running as a Libertarian.
Mr. Exotic urged fans to look past the fact that he is “incarcerated and gay” and to help him “take back the country.”
Maldonado-Passage developed a brand-new presidential campaign website, as well as a personal intro message.
“Thank you for your interest in my Campaign. Yes, I know I am in Federal Prison and you might think this is a joke but it’s not. It is my Constitutional right to do this even from here. I have been put here only because of the corruption in the Department of Justice, three felons that were told how to lie under oath to further this agenda, two corrupt Assistant U.S. Attorneys, two corrupt FBI Agents and one corrupt Federal Wildlife Agent. As seen by the evidence at www.joeexoticusa.com/evidence , you can see that they have admitted to perjury and they even had a plot to kill me before they set me up. I hope that you would take the time to educate yourself before judging me any further than most of you already have, because during this campaign and my life, I have not, and will not, judge you. That is why I am doing this, to finally give you a voice and your freedom back without fear of living in a country that thinks they own you and can tell you how to live your life.”
Maldonado-Passage is the former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Animal Park who was indicted on two counts of murder-for-hire back in 2018.
Prosecutors claimed that Joe Exotic gave a man $3,000 to travel from Oklahoma to Florida to murder Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin, and that he also allegedly arranged to pay thousands more dollars after the job was completed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Maldonado-Passage was indicted by a grand jury on an additional 19 counts of wildlife-related charges.
Some of these charges included a violation of the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act.
Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Exotic shot and killed five tigers to make more room in cages for other big cats and that he sold tiger cubs in order to raise funds.
He has also been implicated of falsifying records regarding his lions, tigers, and a baby lemur that were said to be donated or relocated for exhibition purposes, but were truthfully sold to the highest bidders.
Maldonado-Passage planned to take down Baskin, who was a harsh critic of his and his treatment of animals.
In 2011, Baskin decided to sue Maldonado-Passage for trademark infringement and was very vocal about his alleged mistreatment of park animals.
The ‘Tiger King’ strived to have his conviction overturned but instead, ended up losing his appeal in 2022.
Mr. Exotic claimed in November 2022, that he was living ‘in the bottom of hell’ as he complained about alleged unsafe conditions inside of an Atlanta federal prison.
The former zoo owner maintained that he is being subjected to miserable living conditions during his time in prison, being denied basic sanitary items and threats from officers while in solitary confinement.
He begged his fans to help him out of the prison system any way they can and finally securing release.
“Since being in custody I have seen more drugs then I ever saw on the street, I watched young and old people die from overdose, kill themselves and die from lack of medical care,” said a caption written by Mr. Exotic.
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