Tiger King Episode 4

Playing with Fire. We open with Joe’s music video “Bring it On” which is just a treasure. Joe is listening to his own music in his truck. He said that he drives around in his truck and listens to his music with a tiger cub. Wtf?? Joe said in a call from prison that he and Carole made money off of each other. That he was her number 1 cub abuser that she made money off of. She was his “murdered her husband and fed him to the tigers” person that he could make money off of and make music videos of. 

2016, Howard Baskin is pulling files. He’s showing all the files that he had for Joe Exotic. It’s a ton. Like 4 file cabinets and 2 smaller tubs. John Reinke said that the more Joe became aware of social media the more he understood how powerful it is. Because if you type in Big Cat Rescue Carole’s company pops up. She’s the number 1 if you type in big cats even before all zoos. And this is where we get “Hey all you cool cats and kittens.” Carole was the first and top on social media for big cats. 

Joe realized that if he made his name close to the Big Cat Rescue then when people googled it it might pull up his name first. Howard thinks that it was to get back at them so he named his travelling show Big Cat Rescue entertainment. There are a lot of similarities. He copied a ton. It wasn’t exactly the same but damn near close. And he even had a Florida Area code that would be forwarded to him. And that pissed that bitch Carole off good. They sued Joe for copyright infringement. Joe decided to wear an Ironman shirt to the deposition of the case. It didn’t stop there. Joe continued to use the name and started a website called Animalabuse.org for information on who killed Don. He didn’t stop. He was relentless. 

Then we go to Rick Kirkham, and we see the reality show that Joe was doing. The deal he had with Joe was that he wanted Rick to run his studio and do his internet show and if he did he’d do the reality show. And Rick said it was a deal. Rick said that there was something so odd about Joe, but he had so much confidence. Joe was made for reality tv. Rick had a throne built for Joe and he put it in the middle of the tiger cage and shot Joe sitting and standing in front of the throne with a cape on. And he said when Joe saw the footage he went nuts and said “I AM the Tiger King. I’ve always been the Tiger King.” 

Rick said his ego had gotten huge. He started firing people because he knew that the cameras were rolling. He had gotten so crazy about Carole that he had taken a rubber blow up doll and wrote Carole on the forehead of it and was threatening to blow it up and actually shot it. They show a video of him saying “You wanna know why Carole Baskin better never, ever, ever, ever see me face to face ever ever ever again?” And then he shoots the dummy. And says “This is how sick of this shit I am.” Tim Stark said that they tried to tell Joe to knock it off. Because this battle, even if he won it would take so much time and cost so much money. Erik Cowie said that he got so obsessed with it that he kinda forgot about the animals. 

Then the rabbit picture showed up on Facebook. Joe got a photo of 3 women from big cat rescue posing with dead rabbits with blood on them. Joe said that Carole likes to kill rabbits for fun. Carole said that it’s before the sanctuary could afford to give the whole prey to the animals and the women are smiling from ear to ear, because their favorite cat gets to have a rabbit yet that’s been twisted into them being horrific monsters who get pleasure from killing a rabbit. It’s the exact same kind of thing that Carole would go after Joe about. 

Carole sued him for copyright after Joe posted the picture. Joe said that Carole didn’t own the photo until after he posted it, she then bought it for $5 to the person who took it and then 3 months later she copyrighted it and sued him for it. Then Howard talks about more photos that Joe posted of Carole. One of Carole’s face photoshopped onto a man wearing an adult diaper. Then there’s a picture of a gooey thing and it says “smile everyone, life could be worse. You could have a crotch like Carole does.” They had just slaughtered a horse and Joe’s holding the horse’s penis and he posted it saying “Hey Howard. Suck my captain morgan. Lol” 

Joe and some others protested in front of Big Cat Rescue. Joe’s in a bunny suit and other women are in tiger suits and they’re shouting “Find Don Lewis.” They had signs that said “911 Dead Cats. Jail Carole Baskins” During the deposition the lawyer or whoever is asking the questions is asking, “While you were handing out handouts with the picture of the dead rabbits on it this lawsuit was pending, correct?” Joe said yes. The lawyer said that then he should’ve known that Carole and Howard did not approve of him using the photo in the handouts. Joe said “Well, yes, but I didn’t make these handouts.” But Joe did participate in the demonstration and handed them out. Joe says, “well actually I didn’t hand them out.” Then we cut to the demonstration and Joe says, “Hi, I’m Joe Exotic and we’re gonna make an honest woman out of this bitch.” 

Howard said that in early 2013 they were coming up on the trial. They had filed a motion for summary judgement and the judge granted it and all of Joe’s counterclaims went away. Joe agreed to pay Carole and the Big Cat Rescue nearly $1 million. Joe said that he didn’t feel that he got his day in court. That she had to result in financially draining them. Sylvia Corkill, reporter for News 9 said that she didn’t actually think that Carole was gonna try to collect on the payment. That she thought she did it just to make a point. That she did it just to say “You’re not gonna intimidate me and you’re not gonna have the final word.” 

She said she was surprised that she was actually trying to collect payment. Joe said that she’d never get a million dollars outta him. Because he doesn’t own anything. That he’s not stupid. Erik Cowie said that she went after his assets. The four wheelers, the truck, the step ladders, his bed. Everything. Joe Exotic said that she could take everything from him, he didn’t care. But she could never shut his mouth up. She took his semi truck and motorhome. Which she saw as a win, because then he couldn’t do roadshows anymore. He had spent a quarter of a million dollars on this. Then he started filming himself blowing up the stuff that she was asking for. He taped his watch to tannerite, a brand of binary explosive target and blew that shit up. He’d say here’s your assets, and it’d just be a pile of crap. 

Rick Kirkham was there just to record and film everything. He said he filmed it all. The good, bad and ugly. Rick said that he was ready to get the show on air, and that he had been living at the zoo 24/7 and was tired. He said that they were negotiating with a network to buy the show. It would have gotten Joe quite a bit of money, but it came to a crashing halt. Erik Cowie said he got woken up at 6 in the morning. Reinke came in and said someone blew up the studio. The blast was so big that it blew the doors open. Joe had gone to a funeral in Chicago, and Marc Thompson and Reinke were the ones on site. Reinke said that he wasn’t touching anything until the fire dept showed up. That was a building that the alligators were kept in as well as the studio. It was an arson. There was nothing left. 

All of the footage was in the studio, and Rick Kirkham hadn’t backed up anything. All of the alligators perished. John Findlay said that it had to be a sick person to do that, because they burned up 7 of his crocadillions. And he did look sad. Joe made a video and said “if you have a problem with me, take it up with me like a man, don’t burn innocent animals to get your point across.” They offered a $10,000 reward to any information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever did it. And if it’s tied to any animal rights organization they would double it. Then Joe says, “If Carole Baskin crawls through this fence and tries to hurt any of my animals again, you can guaran-goddam-tee I’ll put a cap in your ass the first time to make you squirm around on the ground. Then I’m gonna put a bullet right between your fucking eyes.” 

Joe said he was waiting for them to catch Carole Baskin in it. He says that he’s got emails between Carole and Rick Kirkham and she offered him $20,000. Then the director Erik Goode asks, “She offered who $20,000? To do what?” And Joe said “To get all the footage and set fire to my studio.” Carole said that she sent Rick a facebook message and said, “I think you probably don’t know the person you’re working for.” Her intent according to Howard was to warn him, they didn’t make him an offer or anything. There’s surveillance video of the suspect the morning it burned down, and you see a figure walking by kinda hunched over and the gait is distinct. 

Joe and John Reinke say that they swear it’s Rick Kirkham in the video, and therefore he’s the one who set the fire. Rick Kirkham said that he was in shock and said, “Are you out of your fucking mind?! That’s my retirement that just burned. I have everything invested in that project that no longer exists.” Rick Kirkham said that he was the one person that Joe feared the most. Because he was shooting everything in his personal life and could take that and harm him with it. We hear Joe talk about it from prison and he said “There was all kinds of shit on there. Reinke doing veterinary work without a veterinarian. We had cameras on everybody every second of the day. And he could’ve sold it to Carole and she could’ve been saving it for a rainy day.” 

John Findlay was asked if it could’ve been Joe, and he said “What better time to have had it done? He was out of town, no one would’ve suspected him.” Then we see a video of Joe going to talk to his lawyer but it’s blurry, very undercover looking. Like they’re obviously not supposed to be filming. Joe says to never put the camera down. Rick says that a week before the studio burned down he and Joe had gotten into an argument and Joe said, “I don’t need you, I can go on.” And Rick pulled out their contract and showed it to him and said, “Joe not only do I own all the reality footage, I own all of your internet footage.”  

Then we go back to the video in Joe’s lawyer’s office, and Joe is telling him that the producers want to do this reality show.  He tells him that they’ve already got it filmed, and the lawyer asks how he’s protecting that? Joe asks, “What do you mean?” The lawyer says, “Well, if they’ve got it filmed, what do they need you for?” Then there’s talk of where the footage is and Joe says it’s in his recording studio and the lawyer asks, “They don’t have copies of it or anything?” Joe says, “No.” His lawyer says, “See what I’m saying here?” 

Rick Kirkham said after the studio burned he walked over to Reinke and handed over the camera and said, “I’m outta here man. I might as well go on home.” And Rick said he got his dog and left. He said he was told by Joe and Reinke that if he stepped foot on the property again he’d be arrested for trespassing. Sheriff Rhodes said that some of the evidence that was going to be subpoenaed for the Carole Baskin case were in the fire. Some video tape, hard drives. Then Joe says, “You might have shut me up for just a little while, but let me tell ya, they’ve awoken a monster. Now Joe Exotic is pissed off. Get online and help us rebuild the voice of you, the people. To bring Joe Exotic Tv back to the air.” 

Bruce David, contractor, said Joe took advantage of people and that’s why he thinks the fire of the alligator habitat was a scam. He said when he first met Joe they discussed what Bruce would charge him to rebuild at a decent rate. He said he only charged him $8,000 to rebuild that $120,000 building. He didn’t make any money. And when asked why he did it he said, “for the animals. I got to pet cats that people weren’t even supposed to be putting their hands around.” The power of these animals is insane. 

Joe got enough people to donate, and he had the habitat rebuilt. Sheriff Rhodes said that the case is still open, and it’s definitely arson. Howard said that the building contained computers, documents and hard drives that were needed in the case, and that he suspects Joe of being responsible for the fire.  For now, he obviously can’t prove it. 

Erik Goode asks Howard how much he’s spent in legal fees with Joe, and he says it’s over a million dollars. Erik asks if it’s worth it and Howard said if it was purely a commercial situation it wouldn’t be but it’s part of their mission to put a stop to this and not allow him to abuse the system and wear them out and cause them to go away.  Sylvia Corkill said that if you have the money you usually find yourself on the winning side. Reinke said that Carole has deep pockets, and that he wasn’t sure if Carole wanted the facility or if she wanted the facility shut down. 

Once Joe maxed out all of the credit cards, he asked John Findlay to put the park in his name. John said that at the time it sounded like a good idea. Chealsi Putnum, Joe’s niece, said that they’ve done so many transfers that no one can keep track of it. Reinke said that Joe thought if he kept changing it that it’d derail them, but it didn’t.  They just changed the names on the lawsuits. Carole went after multiple people and even sued Reinke.  She was going to sue John Finlay as well. Joe’s parents, Francis and Shirley, Shirley’s name is on everything, down to the trailers, water, electric, and cable bills. Shirley was accused of transferring the zoo’s cash and assets into her name.

Carole sued her for that. Joe said his mother dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into defending herself. We see Joe in front of a Chase bank building and he says, “Instead of being in a tiger cage today I’m in downtown area of Oooo-klahoma City. Thanks to Carole Baskin for dragging us out of bed this morning and sticking my mom at the very top of that building right there in order to fuck with her using a federal court in order to do that.” We hear a call from prison and Joe says, “between the park and the lawsuits, mom ran out of money. Carole bankrupted them.” 

Then we see a video of Shirley and Francis Schreibvogel for a gofundme. Shirley’s thanking everyone who’s donated to it for helping them get out of the mess they were in. She said that the attorney with the sheriff came banging on their door asking for the entire sum of money or else they were gonna take all the furniture out of their house. Then she starts crying. She says she knows from the bottom of her heart that Carole Baskin is behind it, because she’s been harassing them along with Joe because she’s greedy and jealous of what Joe’s done with his park and she had nothing. Chealsi said that she went to the courthouse and got a copy of a deed for one of the properties that Joe had and brought it to her Grandmother and asked if she knew her name was on it and she said, “Well Joe just brings papers and shoves them in front of me and tells me to sign it.” She said that Joe drained them dry. 

Joe didn’t have any way of making money other than cub petting so he had to breed. Joe was desperate. We watch the zookeepers of the zoo drag a tiger cub out of the cage the mom just had and it is so sad. Joe goes into his house and there’s a pack and play with like 3 or 4 tiger cubs, and they’re crying.  Joe says, “They just never stop screaming.” He said he had to go sleep in the studio just to get away from the cubs’ screaming. Reinke said, “It still costs $60,000- $70,000 a month just to feed all these animals.” 

We see a video of all these tigers pacing and pacing and someone says, “Are you just gonna let them stand in there or let them out?” And the other says, “There’s 14 tigers in there only 5 buckets of meat.” They didn’t have enough meat for the animals. The park looks a mess. Erik Cowie looked so defeated. Reinke said that things got so bad that Joe wanted to negotiate with Carole and Howard. Howard said that he was willing to make concessions and make the payments lower in the winter and higher in the summer. Howard and Joe came to an agreement, but then Joe said Carole got on the phone and she wanted Joe’s mom’s house as collateral. Joe said no. We see a video of Joe in front of a picture of his brother and it says, Garold Wayne Shreibvogel, 1960-1997. And he’s crying and saying, “Carole, you’ve already stripped me of just about everything I own. And you’re gonna have to kill me to shut me up. Cause I’m gonna die a hero and I’m gonna liberate the animal world. It’ll be a cold day in hell before you beat me.” 

Then just when we all thought that there could be an increase in Douchebags, here comes Jeff Lowe. He came on the scene sometime in 2015. He wanted to save the zoo, so the zookeepers called him the Godfather. He needed a place to put 14 of his own cats. His grandfather owned Robin’s Brothers Circus. It had the largest menagerie of animals. He appeared to be very wealthy. He went back and forth between Vegas and Wynnewood. He was a partier, and he and his wife were swingers. They liked to have sex with other women and they used the tigers to entice them in. Joe let them take a few cubs out to Vegas. Jeff said, “A little pussy gets you a lot of pussy.” 

Dianna Mazak, employee at GW zoo said, “He would put tiger cubs into a Louis Vuitton bag, rolled them into the hotel room and let people play with them and party with them.” Joe said if they wanted more he’d give them more. Joe and Travis went out to the mansion that Jeff had. He said that they wined them and dined them. Jeff Lowe said that he was enamored by the money and the big house, and that he probably thought that Jeff Lowe was his next victim. Joe said that Jeff had the money to fight Carole. Dianna said that Joe bowed down to Jeff. And she didn’t like that at all. 

Then there was a call between Joe, Howard and the attorneys, it was supposed to be private, but Jeff sat in on the call. Joe offered to pay them $5,000 a month and they said it wasn’t good enough, that they wanted that plus for Joe to stop breeding and stop cub petting. Joe said how can I make that money then? Jeff stepped up and said “Well this isn’t gonna work then. This agreement is so far from acceptable” someone asks who was speaking. Jeff said his name, the lawyer i guess said, “we need you to get off this call.” Jeff said, “You know what? When I woke up this morning I was in a free fucking country! And I’m still there.” The mediator said if he didn’t get off the phone that they would terminate the call. Jeff said, “Howard, fuck yourself, and fuck your cunt wife.” 

Howard said that Joe thought that if Jeff funded the fight it would tire them out, and they’d fold and go away, which it didn’t. Joe owed $40,000 to attorneys which Jeff paid. Joe’s lawyers suggested that they dissolve the Garold Wayne interactive zoo company and let Jeff open one in his name, so Carole would have to start the lawsuits over again, and that’s what they did. Joe said that when he met Jeff he thought he could trust him. He didn’t know that the mansion was rented, that he was behind on ferrari payments. Once he got the zoo in his name that’s when shit hit the fan. Dianna said that, “when Jeff Lowe got involved, Jeff Lowe stole the zoo.”