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'Tiger King' Joe Exotic Says He's 'Absolutely Ecstatic' About His Newfound Fame

Lucy Devine

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'Tiger King' Joe Exotic Says He's 'Absolutely Ecstatic' About His Newfound Fame

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

It was only a matter of time before Tiger King's Joe Exotic broke his silence over his mega popular Netflix show.

After all, he is arguably becoming a bit of a household name. We can barely go half an hour without at least one of our WhatsApp chats pinging about the mullet-sporting former zoo owner.

The true crime series, available to watch now on Netflix, was only released less than two weeks ago, and now Joe - who is serving a 22-year prison sentence - has spoken out about his time in the spotlight.

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If you've watched the show, you'll know Joe is currently behind bars for a murder-for-hire plot against his longtime critic and rival, animal rights activist, Carole Baskin.

Which could explain why he's not yet had chance to watch the show. But despite not having seen any of it, he is apparently *loving* the fame after receiving tons of fan mail.

Rebecca Chaiklin, co-director of Tiger King, told the Los Angeles Times: "You can hardly talk to [Joe Exotic] without him mentioning the amount of press he's getting.

Joe is serving a 22-year jail sentence (Credit: Santa Rosa County Jail)
Joe is serving a 22-year jail sentence (Credit: Santa Rosa County Jail)
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"He says people are asking to see his Prince Albert and girls are sending him sexy bikini pictures even though he's gay. He's over the moon. Having kept in pretty close touch with him while he's been in a horrible county prison, this has raised his spirits.

"Joe definitely did some horrible things to his animals. He was very abusive to them and he shot five tigers, no question about it. But what has happened to him has also been hard."

Meanwhile, co-director Eric Goode reiterated that Joe was "absolutely ecstatic" at his sudden rise to fame and Joe's husband, Dillon Passage, has also spoken about Joe's reaction to his growing fanbase.

During an interview with Andy Cohen on SiriusXM's 'Radio Andy', Dillon explained Joe has been flooded with letters from fans.

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"He's in jail, so he can't necessarily watch it, but once the show dropped he was getting hundreds and hundreds of emails to his jail mail, and he was ecstatic," he said.

The show only dropped less than two weeks ago and Joe is already a household name (Credit: Netflix)
The show only dropped less than two weeks ago and Joe is already a household name (Credit: Netflix)

Adding that Joe is enjoying the limelight, Dillon said: "It was a lot of good feedback, and he likes attention, obviously. He calls himself Joe Exotic the Tiger King."

It kind of makes sense that Joe would enjoy the spotlight. After all, he did (unsuccessfully) run for state governor and president of the US, back in 2016 - something we see played out in the Netflix series.

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These days, although residing in Grady County Jail in Chickashi, Oklahoma, Joe is reportedly launching a $94 million (£78 million) lawsuit.

In the suit, which was reportedly filed on 17th March, Joe says his case included false and perjured testimony, and that he was discriminated against because he is "an openly gay male with the largest collection of generic tigers and crossbreeds".

Included in this figure is $15 million (£12.1 million) for the role he claims this played in the death of his mother.

We've got a feeling this won't be the last we hear of Joe Exotic... a second series, perhaps, Netflix?

Topics: Tiger King, Entertainment News, TV News, TV Entertainment, Netflix

Lucy Devine
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