Joe Exotic has begged President Donald Trump for a presidential pardon. The Tiger King star was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2020 for wildlife crimes and attempted murder-for-hire. He has maintained his innocence, but now says there’s hope for him even without a presidential pardon. Trump gives him hope, he told Entertainment Weekly.
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Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado, told the publication that he’s been diagnosed with cancer. Because of this, he doesn’t “even know how much time I have left.” However, he’s confident that he “can finish that happily as a felon.”
“Just give me time served,” he continued. “I don’t need a d— pardon. Just commute my sentence to time served, not because of who I am, but because it’s the right thing to do.”
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He told Entertainment Weekly that Trump has inspired him because even as a felon, he was able to become president of the United States. “I can move on with my life being a felon, because he’s the president as a felon,” Exotic explained to the publication. “And if you can become the President of the United States as a felon, hey, I can finish off my life.”
Previously, Joe Exotic seemed upset that Trump chose to pardon January 6 insurrectionists and not him. He mentioned that “they’re releasing people that have murdered people.”
“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,” he continued. “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.”
Exotic encouraged Trump to check his website for “evidence” that he is “innocent.” He has also posted on Instagram to explain why he believes he should not be in prison.
“All I need is one chance to show @realdonaldtrump that I can make him proud he let me go home,” he wrote in one post. In another, he shared a photo of himself alongside separate photos of Trump and former President Joe Biden. “Omg we almost look related,” he wrote. “Why am I the only one in prison?”
