Joe Exotic wants the woman he was convicted for taking a hit out on to help him get out of prison sooner.
Exotic is in federal prison serving a 22-year sentence for attempted murder-for-hire of Baskin and violating wildlife laws. His rivalry with Baskin, who he accused of murdering her missing former husband and feeding the body to her tigers, was documented on Netflix’s hit 2020 series Tiger King.
Now Baskin and current husband Howard want Exotic to lend his name to support a law that would end private ownership of big cats in exchange for their help reducing his prison sentence. The bill passed in the House of Representatives late last year.
“It is time for Carole and Howard to put up or shut the hell up because I’m accepting their offer,” Exotic told a reporter. “And I’m gonna take it one step further than that, OK? It is time to get on the phone to President Biden or whoever they need to do that, they’ve got in their little financial pocket and say, ‘Hey, Joe is willing to support a big-cat bill to help protect cats in America from being exploited.”
Exotic has been desperate to get squirm out of his prison sentence, petitioning former President Trump repeatedly for a pardon that never came.
Earlier in this month, Baskin’s husband implicated his willingness to support the Tiger King’s release quid pro quo.
“If Joe were to come out and say, ‘I now know what I did was wrong and I want to help. I would like to support passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act and stop this breeding.’” He commented. “If he were to do that, it might position him in a positive way for a pardon. And, frankly, I might be willing to go and urge at least a reduction in his sentence.”
Exotic seems willing to make the bargain, but not without teeth. “But we need to keep our end of the deal and get Joe a pardon because this wasn’t really about murder for hire or shooting five tigers – this was about exploiting Joe to support Carole’s agenda,’ he concluded. “So there’s the offer on the table, all right?”
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