Tiger King is a 2020 American true crime docuseries about the life of zookeeper and convicted felon Joe Exotic. It was released on Netflix on March 20, 2020. The series focuses on the small but deeply interconnected society of big cat conservationists such as Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue, and collectors such as Exotic, whom Baskin accused of abusing and exploiting wild animals.
episode 7: Dethroned
Thackerville, Oklahoma. Jeff Lowe is showing off where the new zoo is going to be. He’s explaining that the zoo has to be open by spring break no matter what. He offered Tim Stark a partnership. Why anyone would want to be partners with either of them is beyond me. I guess garbage people dig other garbage people. Tim says that he’s bringing millions of dollars worth of equipment and hundreds of animals to the project. He’s got his ever present monkey clinging to him, and he jokes that he’s smart because most people say you can’t get anything done with a monkey on your back and that’s why he keeps a monkey on his front. He also says that it’s a collaboration between two of the most notorious assholes in the industry. Which is one of the most true things that’s been said in this documentary. Jeff said that he’s glad that Tim is helping him.
Joe is on the phone with Dillon, and he says that he doesn’t know if he’ll be there when he gets out and Dillon says that he’s not going anywhere. He’s still there talking to him. Joe says, “When I married you I just wanted this to be different than anything else was.” Dillon is trying to console him and tells him that he just wants him to worry about getting out and to keep his head on his shoulders. He says that that’s their conversations everyday, 3 times a day.
James Garretson says that Jeff let the Feds into Joe’s house, and they took documents, jump drives and all his other stuff. Jeff says that it opened up a whole other can of worms for Joe. Federal authorities made some key discoveries including bones of big cats. Someone said that Joe shot 5 big cats, and they dug and found the skulls. Joe Exotic was now facing 19 new wildlife offenses. Doc Antle shows the hell back up, and he says that they trumped up all the wildlife charges to put pressure on Joe because the murder for hire charge was so flimsy. He says, “That’s why they came up with the other 20 silly-ass charges.” Doc said that all that combined makes this poor dolt look like this felonious murderer.
Amanda Green says that both the murder-for-hire and wildlife charges were crucial to bring and bring together. Counts 1 & 2 charged Joe with murder-for-hire, Counts 3-7 were for shooting and killing 5 tigers that were at his facility in October of 2017. The other counts were for the sale of tiger and lion cubs. Joe talks about the shooting of the tigers.
Jeff is talking about how GW zoo isn’t his park, it’s Joe’s park. That his ghost walks that place and that he’s embarrassed to tell people what he does. He said when people ask and he tells them he owns the zoo they ask if he’s that crazy bastard and he says, “no, i’m not that crazy bastard.” But surprise, Jeff. You are.
James Garretson says that the zoo down in Thackerville was his idea, but things with Jeff started to sour. He says that Jeff didn’t care who he screwed. James says that Jeff would’ve been indicted if it wasn’t for him. He got Jeff the deal. According to Jeff, James said that he stuck his neck out for Jeff, and he wanted Jeff to put his name on the zoo. Jeff said that it just doesn’t work like that. Jeff said that it went bad for him and James because James couldn’t afford to pitch in on the zoo. Tim Stark said that this zoo is going to be the biggest zoo, and that it’s going to be immaculate. James said that so many people focus on being the biggest, but they don’t care about being the nicest. James said that that’s how they do business. They’ll just stick you in the back. Joe explains Jeff’s business plan. Play How Jeff does business.
James is then asked by director, Eric Goode how involved Jeff was in trying to get Carole murdered, and James says, “Alright, you’re not gonna show this to the defense attorney when I lay this all out? Don’t free that motherfucker! No.” James said that basically Jeff helped put the thing together. He obviously knew about it, because he told him on the phone that he was going to use Allen Glover. Allen Glover said that he was asked by Joe to kill Carole and that he was supposed to get $5,000 but Joe could only come up with $3,000 so Allen took the money and ran. Then there’s a call between Jeff and Allen.
Then we talk about Joe’s trial. John Reinke is talking about the trial and that it has affected him greatly. He’s lost weight because he can’t eat, he can’t sleep. He was also really angry that he had to buy pants because he hadn’t worn pants in years. He said that it’s crazy because he’s involved in a murder-for-hire plot all because he stopped by a zoo to feed a bear one day. He also says that his job at the zoo was to get Joe out of trouble but that he didn’t know if he could get him out of this. Sylvia Corkill said that people that were around Joe for years and years and were closest to him are now testifying against him.
Josh Dial said that he doesn’t mess with the Feds, he doesn’t really like the Feds. He’s a libertarian so technically, fuck the feds. Hahahha. Oh Josh… you little so and so. He said that he doesn’t want to be dealing with them, but that he was contacted by a federal agent and he said point blank, “Are you going to be team government or team Joe?” He said it was the scariest moment of his life. Erik Cowie went to the trial and testified against Joe. He said that he came up with his .410 in his hand, and he knew he just shot Cuddles, he heard it. He said he went up the hill and said, “Goddamn, Erik, if i knew it was gonna be this easy, walk right up to the cage, I’ll kill ‘em all.” There was no way for Erik to stop it, he said it was gonna happen.
Then Erik is interviewed at his home, and he seems intoxicated and really upset. He said that the cats trusted him, and they could look him in the eye and when they died he was right there. He said it means a minute to him. A heavy minute. He’s super distraught about it.
Carole said that she was surprised that Joe didn’t want to kill her himself, but she wasn’t surprised that he wanted it done. She also said that the only silver lining to this if someone were to kill her, that it would push the movement so far forward that it would be worth it.
John Findlay, Joe’s ex-husband testified against Joe on both the charges, murder for hire and animal abuse. He said he was Joe’s right hand man for 16 years, and he doesn’t know what he could go to prison for but he wants to make sure he doesn’t go. He got emotional at the trial and he said that in 2017 Joe asked him to drive Allen Glover to Dallas to purchase a fake ID. Joe told him that he needed the fake ID to go to Florida and kill that bitch Carole Baskins. John said that he didn’t see anyone at the trial for Joe as a person. No one was on his side.
James Garretson testified that Jeff Lowe not only knew about the plan to kill Carole, but that he took an active role in hatching that plan. James said that Jeff was the one who suggested where to shoot her, and that it should be near her home. Tim Stark said that when Jeff found out that Joe was embezzling money and killing tigers, Tim said, “Take the motherfucker out. Slit his throat and leave him laying.” Nice Tim…. Tim said that what he wanted from Jeff was a business partner. Basically, Jeff just tells him what to do and he does it. Tim is Jeff’s bitch. Sylvia Corkill said that Jeff Lowe is a very skilled conman and asked, “How is he not facing any charges?” Preach, girl! Jeff did not testify in court. Sylvia said, “Was he a witness” Yes. Did he testify? No. Why? Because he would have perjured himself.” Garretson goes on to say that letting the hitman go tells you it’s a witch hunt. He went down to Florida to murder someone and he didn’t even get probation.
Now, even as far as Tiger King standards go, this is where things get really weird and MEGA uncomfortable. Eric Goode decides to interview Allen Glover in the bathtub…. In a bubble bath… Allen says that he hates being a part of this shit. He wishes he wasn’t. He said that Joe deserves everything he gets and more. Howard talks about the fact that there was different testimony, but Allen testified that he actually went to Florida and he believes him. Joe said he doesn’t understand why no one brought up that he lied on the stand because there are recordings of him saying he didn’t go to Florida. Remember how Allen Glover said that he apparently didn’t make it to Florida? Apparently he chickened the fuck out?? Joe says that lying under oath used to mean something. That it should be a mistrial because of the perjury.
Joe took the stand in his own defense. Everyone said that it was a surprise… But don’t we know by now that Joe LOVES to talk to anyone who will listen? Why wouldn’t he get up and testify?? Sylvia Corkill said that he had an answer for everything the prosecution asked. Joe said that he told them right before Thanksgiving he called Jeff to say that Allen wouldn’t wear a uniform, he won’t do anything. Joe asked him to do. Jeff said that he didn’t work for Joe. Then he said that Jeff sent him a text saying that maybe Allen would be better off in South Carolina.
Thanksgiving Day, Joe said that he had cooked dinner for 150 people, and they donated enough that he could give Allen $3,000 to get the hell out of there. Joe said it was out of the register, per Jeff’s orders to give it to Allen. Howard said that Joe can be convincing, and that he was worried that it would just take one holdout to make it a hung jury. Doc Antle said that it appeared to him that he was set up. That he’s not smart enough to go through with what he did. He said, “Who hires a $3,000 hitman? He’s also stupid. A cross-country, traveling, high-end hit man cannot cost $3,000. It couldn’t cost $30,000. I think it’s probably a hundred grand to find that guy, and you certainly don’t find him from a new friend.” Josh Dial said that Jeff definitely set Joe up. And it’s a goddamn tragedy. Jeff Lowe said that he never set him up.
Eric Goode talked to Joe after he testified, and he said that he felt very good about it and the jury. He said he thought he was going home. He said once he was out, he was gonna start his life over fresh. Amanda Green said that the government showed the jury a number of the social media postings that Joe Exotic had made that referenced Carole in a violent way. I’m sure there were a lot of those.
Amanda read what was told to the jury before deliberation, “Mr. Passage built his own kingdom. He was the Tiger King. But here’s the problem with kings. They get used to making all the rules. Mr. Passage believed that his kingdom was under attack. So Mr. Passage attacked back. He talked to everyone around him about his hate for Miss Baskin. But we aren’t here today because of what Mr. Passage said online. We are here today because of what he said when he thought no one was listening. And he decided that, as the king, he would protect his kingdom at all costs. He was going to simply assassinate his rival. And it’s your job now to make sure that no one, not even the Tiger King, is allowed to be above the laws of the United States.”
James says that he had some changes of heart like, “Do I want to see this guy put away while others go free who have done things just as bad? I’m like, uh… no. It’s gonna be kind of hard to sleep with, if he gets like, life in prison or something. It’s gonna be, you know, hey, I’m not the only one that was there to testify. You know, there’s a lot of other people, but, yeah, I’ll feel somewhat responsible.” John Reinke said that he was approached early on about testifying and he never heard anything else about it. And he ran that zoo for 14 years. He asked why they wouldn’t wanna talk to him about it.
The jury deliberated for 3, almost 4 hours and found Joe Exotic guilty of all 19 counts. John Reinke said, “Did Joe do wrong? Yeah, he did wrong. He did sell cubs, He did transport cubs. The murder-for-hire, I don’t think it woulda ever went this far without somebody pushing.” Then he’s asked if Jeff Lowe should face charges as well? He basically says that he’s the director of the same zoo that Joe had sooooo… I gather that’s a yeah… John says, “They all got what they wanted. Tiger King in jail. In a cage. It’s pretty ironic. It’s sad. That man’s gonna die in jail.”
Howard and Carole are toasting with a bottle of Moey Chambin and having cocktail shrimps. He says the evening of Joe’s conviction was definitely a champagne and Brie evening. Then Howard sings to Carole…… And I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life… It’s kind of like when your parents flirt in front of you…. Play leaving you in springtime. Both Carole and Howard, or Howie as she refers to him said that they were relieved and thrilled.
Lauren and Jeff are talking about their baby that Lauren is carrying. Jeff said they are bringing her in to be induced very soon. They are having a girl and then fucking Jeff says that then they can get Lauren back in the gym. So Jeff is no Arnold Schwartzeneggar. Ookkkkk. Lauren asks Jeff if he’s ready, and he says he’s ready for that nanny. She said that they were getting a nanny, and Jeff shows a picture on his cellphone of a very attractive woman in a selfie with a lot of cleavage doing I guess a kissy, smirky face? Jeff said, “You can get a nanny as long as I get to pick her.” He said, “If you’re going to bring in one, why bring in one that’s not enjoyable to look at? I mean, you’re going to have to have this person living in your home.” Lauren points out that some of the nannies they’re looking at are bilingual and multilingual, and that’d be great to teach the baby.
Sylvia says that rumours say that Jeff could be facing charges that are much bigger than this later down the road. Jeff says that for the last couple years people have accused him of these crimes and saying they have evidence but it’s never materialized. James says that he thinks Jeff will get arrested soon. He says a lot of things and it incriminates him. He said that no one knows what he’s gonna do. That he’s not finished in this. Then we get one of the BEST moments in the entire documentary. And by best I mean worst. James Garretson on a jet ski riding to Eye of the Tiger. Bob blowing in the wind. Reflective shades on. John Reinke said it’s not fair because James Garretson is right there with them and nothing is being done to him. He said that he called the Feds and asked them what’s going to happen and he said they said, “It’s far from over.”
Joe says in a call from jail that he’s kept his mouth shut for years, and he’s not gonna do it anymore. He’s got a list of 37 names. He said he’s got proof and wants to give his evidence to PETA. Dillon is unlocking a storage unit and talking about all the permits and transfer papers for animals that are in it. Joe says, “Did I ever dream that PETA would be my ally right now? Fuck no. But I’m done with the animal world, so let’s just shut all the troublemakers down.” Brittany Peet, captive animal law enforcement for PETA said that Joe was public enemy number one for them, but they went to the jail where he is in Oklahoma and met with Joe and his attorneys for 2 days.
Joe shared info about wildlife trafficking in the US and the abuse of animals going on behind the scenes and by a lot of people. Erik Goode asks Doc Antle why he thinks PETA and the animal right groups haven’t targeted him. And he says, “I’m not fucking around. I can’t be targeted. How do you target me?” Brittany Peet said that Joe told her that Doc Antle put tiger cubs who have aged out of playtime events in a gas chamber to kill them and he cremates their bodies in his onsight crematorium. She said that she thinks Joe’s motivation in this case is revenge. He wants to see a lot of other people in the big cat trade go down with him.
Joe says that Jeff and Tim are at war. Jeff says, “It seems that everybody starts out well with me and then it ends bad.” Tim Stark said that he’s done. He said, “I didn’t go 900 miles to build the damn zoo by my-damn-self so he could take the glory.” And he’s got his poor monkey INSIDE of his shirt while he’s pumping gas….. Jeff said that having Tim as a partner sounded like a good idea at the time. So did helping Joe. Tim said that he was paying for it all. He paid to have all the stuff shipped out there. That it was supposed to be a 50/50 business. Jeff says, You’ve got Tim Stark talking to Joe, Joe talking to PETA and all these people hated one another 6 months ago. Brittany said that once PETA starts to shut a person down and end their abuse of animals, they don’t stop.
Saff said no one wins. Everyone involved is a so-called animal advocate. Not a single animal benefited from this war. John Reinke said that there’s a ton of drama in the animal world, and that he’s changed his life. He said he’s done with the he-said-she-said stuff. He also said that all of this took a toll on his marriage and he left his wife after 30 years. John Findlay gets his “property of Joe Exotic” tattoo covered up. Thank goodness for him. John Reinke says he misses his animals a lot, but unless he had tons of money to give to Jeff he was told he’d never get his animals back so he had to just walk away. Josh Dial says,
“Everyone has lost in this. What started out as this feud between two people, a good and noble fight to stop cub selling, cub petting, turned into a personal and legal court battle, and it just became about them. Think of the millions of dollars spent, Think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent investigating Joe, Think of what millions of followers, donors and whatnot, think of how far that could go saving these tigers in their natural habitats. We’ve completely lost sight and lost touch of what really matters here. And that’s the conservation protection of the species of this planet.”
Rick Kirkham said that he thinks Joe started the zoo with good intentions but as the money rose his care for the animals declined to the point that he didn’t really care about the animals at all. He said that something that he has to live with is the fact that he had to make a reality tv show that looked like he cared. Play depriving the Chimpanzees
Joe was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The Big Cat Safety Act has not passed. Doc Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari was raided by the authorities in December 2019. Antle has not responded to allegations of cub euthanasia. 5,000-10,000 tigers live in captivity in the U.S. Fewer than 4,000 tigers remain in the wild.
episode 8: The tiger king and I
Erik Cowie – He says that he still hasn’t seen the documentary Tiger King. He said he hasn’t had time. He’s still working at the zoo with Jeff and Lauren. He said that he’s gotten recognized while he’s out because of the show. He said he’s got regrets about his time with Joe. The biggest thing was putting cats down, they would use him and his voice and that he could get cats to back up against a wall to dart them and put them down. He said they weren’t put down due to medical reasons. He said that the animals had it better at the zoo than the workers. Joe was an asshole and you couldn’t talk to him without getting yelled at for 20 minutes. Working for Jeff he said that it’s relaxed, not the random yellings at. He’s a pretty calm guy. He said that Joe should absolutely not be freed. Not no, but fuck no. People have said that Vince Neil, from Motley Crue should play him. He doesn’t agree.
Lauren and Jeff – They’re asked how the nanny is working out. They both say she’s hot. Jeff said that he’s not happy how they were portrayed on the show. He said that people like Joe go to him when they need help, and when he stops helping them they backstab and turn on him. They say that Allen Glover is the kindest, sweetest hitman you could ever hire. They’re asked, “Whose brilliant idea was it for Allen to be filmed in the bathtub?” Lauren said that she doesn’t have an answer for that. Cause when they saw that they were like, “What the hell is going on?” Jeff says maybe Erik wanted to see Allen in the bathtub. Jeff says that people saying Joe was set up is a big crock of shit. That everyone saw all the videos that Joe was posting and he was his own worst enemy. He did everything to himself.
They comment on the antenna that was on the roof. The bug and say it’s for their radio systems at the zoo for a 2-way radio. He said that he’s not worried that James Garretson said he’s got stuff on Jeff, because he knows why he went to the Feds and it wasn’t because of a lemur. He’s asked by Joel McHale if he reported James’s hairdresser to the feds. Hahaha. They both say that they think that Carole killed her husband. Abso-fucking-lutely. Jeff said that Joe’s right where he belongs. And that they aren’t sure if given the opportunity to do another series of episodes if he’d do it.
John Reinke – He said that he loved working at the zoo for the animals. He said that Joe told him numerous times that he could never run the zoo, and that he always tried to keep everyone smaller than him. He said that he and Joe got into plenty of fights, and that he was always belittling someone. That he’d fire someone just to do it in front of the cameras. He said toward the end he was blowing everything up. He even blew up his golf cart and his cabin. He said that he got along with Jeff at first, but then he thought he was talking to Joe while Joe was in prison.
He said that Jeff and Dillon got into a fist fight in the parking lot for 15 minutes and that’s when John made his decision to leave the same day, which was the same day as Joe. John says that he doesn’t hang out with people because people stab you in the back. He said he’s sure that he’ll go back to court over this. Because of Joe’s appeal and that he hasn’t heard the end of this he’s sure. He said that he’s refrained from talking to Joe because he can’t shut up. Everything’s recorded. He’s got a new girlfriend and he’s super happy. When asked who should play him he said Matthew McConaughey
Saff Saffery – When asked if he was more loyal to Joe or the animals he said, “definitely the animals.” He said he was outraged by the fact that Joe had shot animals outright, but that Joe had a way of explaining everything away. He said that he refers to himself as a man and that it didn’t bother him too bad when the documentary referred to him as “she”. He said that he knows he made the right decision to have his arm amputated. There were no regrets there. He said that he’s watched the video of his arm being torn off multiple times and there was a time they used that as a training video, what not to do. He talked about the giving nature of Joe, and that people didn’t get to see that in the documentary. That he did a lot of terrible things, but he also did a lot of good things as well. He said that he thinks that justice was served with Joe but he doesn’t want to see Joe die in jail. When asked who should play him in a movie he said the kid from Johnny Tsunami. YASSS Johnny Tsunami!!
Josh Dial – He said that he’s been working with Joe since the documentary started. He said that he thought the documentary was very well done and portrayed nicely. He was told that Jeff Lowe disagrees and Josh says, “Well the truth hurts.” He said that his impression of Joe was that he was batshit crazy before he started working with him. He did it because he wanted to start his career and there was the lure of the animals. He was asked if Joe ever tried anything romantically with him and he said no, that Joe’s type is young and dumb. He wants them 17, 18 years old, and he aged out of that. He said that he went into the office and had to look at the bullet hole where Travis shot himself everyday for over a year after he killed himself. Neither Joe nor Jeff ever offered him counseling. He said he wants to get counseling and get on his medications and get stable enough to jump back into campaigning. He said that Travis told him that Joe had just bought him a Ruger, and that it wouldn’t fire without a clip. He then put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger to prove that it wouldn’t fire, and there must’ve been one in the chamber.
He said that he saw the surprise and the fear in his eyes when it happened. That it had to have been an accident. He said that Joe didn’t get any counseling after Travis died and that he spoke to a Shaman instead, and that he felt like it worsened it, it didn’t make it better. He’s not surprised that Joe was convicted on all the counts. He said that Joe’s zoo is the same as Carole’s. That it isn’t better than hers, and hers isn’t better than his. He said that Joe knows how big he is now and that he’s got fans running Facebook pages for him and raising money for him. He addresses saying, “fuck the feds.” Saying that “The government has failed us in so many ways. They need to be working for us, their tax money that they blow, comes from us.” So he feels like he has every right as an American to say, “Fuck the Feds, Do your job.”
John Findlay – He got new teeth!!!! And he’s wearing a shirt! He looks great! He says that the tattoo coverup of “Property of Joe Exotic” is completely finished and it looks great. He is still with the mother of his 4 year old daughter. He definitely confirms that it is not Joe singing. John said that the night that the documentary dropped, he and his fiancee watched it in 7 hours. He said he’s not happy with the way he was portrayed. He was portrayed as a drugged out hillbilly and when his daughter was born he decided to never touch another drug ever again. He says that he’s got tattoos and why not show them off and that’s why he was shirtless the whole time.
Rick Kirkham – He’s now living in Norway. He married a Norwegian woman, but hasn’t been able to escape the Tiger King mania there either. He said he met Joe from a Craigslist ad. He said about 3 months in that he saw him do things to animals that he knew were wrong. He said he knows that he sold out his own journalistic integrity by not going to an animal right group or the authorities. He talks about a story of an old woman who had a horse, in a horse trailer. She pulled in one day, and she was really upset. She was crying and Joe turned around and said, “Rick, go grab the camera. Videotape all of this.” And Joe went up and started giving her a hug. She asked Joe to take care of the horse, that he needed to go out to pasture. She said, “he’s old, can you give him a good life?” Joe said he had plenty of land. Of course. He said to unhitch the trailer and they’d bring it back to her the next day. That he’d have a great life out there.
No sooner did that lady get off the park than Joe said, “Rick, follow me.” Walked right up to the horse trailer, pulled out the Western revolver out of his holster, shot the horse dead and said, “I don’t take care of nobody’s animals. And now, they’re tiger meat.” He had the horse cut up and fed to the tigers. He said he saw him shoot 2 tigers, one because the tiger almost bit him. He said that Joe was a cruel man. He said that he thinks it’s burning Joe up so much to not be able to take advantage of the celebrity he now has. He’s most likely jealous of people like himself who can. He also said that one thing that didn’t come up in the doc was the fact that Joe was terrified of big cats. And in the shots you see of him in the cage with tigers, the white and orange ones, the white one was blind and the other was on tranquilizers.
Rick said it’s idiotic to think that he became famous for being the Tiger King when he was so scared of them. He said that Joe asked him once to kill Carole and said it like it was a joke. He said once the studio burned and Rick left the park, that’s when Joe went downhill fast. He said that he regrets ever meeting Joe Exotic. He said he’ll never get over it, but he thinks the best thing to come out of the documentary is people saying, “free the animals.” When asked who he’d have play him in the movie he said Billy Bob Thornton. And that’s all she wrote!
