Tiger King star Joe Exotic has taken issue with President Donald Trump pardoning hundreds of January 6 insurrectionists and ignoring his calls for clemency.
The former zoo owner-turned-reality TV star — whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado — has been publicly crusading for a release from prison since his conviction on 19 criminal counts in 2020.
Currently incarcerated at Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, he previously used social media as an avenue to plead for a presidential pardon from Trump.
Now serving a 22-year prison stint for hiring a hit man to snuff out rival Carole Baskin, Exotic has maintained his innocence and feels he never got a fair shake — comparing his judicial plight to people who are considered actual killers.
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“Being in prison with the evidence that I have is wrong, especially when they’re releasing people that have murdered people,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I don’t hold anything against the Jan. 6 people, but some of them people really hurt some police officers and they’re free because they were hostages. Hell, I’m a hostage, I’m a political prisoner in America, and I’m asking President Donald J. Trump to put an end to this and let me go home.”
Shortly after being sworn in as the 47th US president, Trump issued 1,500-plus pardons to violent rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, several of whom were convicted of beating law enforcement officers. More than 140 police officers were injured during the seven-hour siege, leading to about $2.8 million in damages, CNN reported.
The 61-year-old Exotic became a pop culture phenomenon with the runaway success of the Netflix 2020 true crime series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.
After being previously sentenced to 22 years for his role in the murder-for-hire plot against Baskin, Exotic was resentenced by a federal judge to 21 years in prison in January 2022, the judge shaving off just one year despite Exotic’s request for leniency as he underwent cancer treatment.
“I plead to President Trump,” he said, adding: “I’m not begging, but I’m asking that he take five minutes and look at the evidence.”
—Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News (TNS)
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