On his last day in office at the White House Trump pardoned 73 people and commuted the sentences of 70, some of whom are celebrities – Exotic was not one of them.
The shameful zookeeper began petitioning to have Trump pardon him last March, he also released a video proclaiming his innocence and even had his legal team repaint a bus with the words: "President Trump, Please Pardon Joe Exotic."
So convinced was his team that Trump would grant him clemency, a 38 ft stretch limousine was on stand by to pick him up from prison Wednesday.
This was not just a rumour, photos of the limo began to circulate online – an ironic reminder of the excessive and hedonistic lifestyle once embraced by Exotic – a stark contrast to his present life behind bars at the Federal Medical Center, Fort Worth.
Once the news had sunk in that he was going nowhere, Exotic took to Twitter to unleash a verbal tirade upon the now ex-president of the USA saying, ”I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first”.
I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first. pic.twitter.com/ysGfwnqlHi
— Joe Exotic (@joe_exotic) January 20, 2021
Celebrities pardoned by Trump included rapper Dwayne Carter, AKA Lil Wayne, Wayne had pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge in 2020, and he commuted the sentence of rapper Bill Kapri, known as Kodak Black, who was serving time for falsifying documents to obtain a firearm.
Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, the former big cat breeder and zoo owner is currently serving a 22-year-sentence for his role in a 2017 murder-for-hire scheme to kill prominent animal rights activist, Carole Baskin, nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act and eight counts of falsifying wildlife records for "interstate" transaction.
The true-crime docu-series Tiger King: Murder, Madness and Mayhem made him a household name. Viewers were transfixed by the seemingly unbelievable unfolding of events that were filmed over a five year period and which eventually led to Exotic's arrest and subsequent incarceration.
According to data from Nielsen it was watched by 34.3 million unique viewers in its first 10 days of release in the US.
