Joe Exotic reacts to the virality of the new Netflix series, “Tiger King.” The show creators say he is “absolutely thrilled.”
Tiger King, capitalizing on the lack of anything to do but watch Netflix with the Coronavirus on the rise, has become the latest TV monocultural moment and Joe Exotic, of whom the show is centered around, is thrilled.
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Co-directors and writers of the show, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, spoke about Joe’s reaction to the virality of the show in a Q&A with the Los Angeles Times.
“Joe has called me quite a few times over the last few days and weeks. One, he is absolutely ecstatic about the series and the idea of being famous. He’s absolutely thrilled,” Goode said. “I think he is trying to be an advocate for — no surprise — criminal justice reform. He is in a cage and of course he’s gonna say that he now recognizes what he did to these animals. With Joe, we have empathy for him, but at the same time, he’s someone who really knows what to say at the right moment. I take it with a big grain of salt when he says he is now apologetic for keeping animals.”
Chaiklin added, “You can hardly talk to him without him mentioning the amount of press he’s getting. He says people are asking to see his Prince Albert and girls are sending him sexy bikini pictures even though he’s gay. He’s over the moon. Having kept in pretty close touch with him while he’s been in a horrible county prison, this has raised his spirits. Joe definitely did some horrible things to his animals. He was very abusive to them and he shot five tigers, no question about it. But what has happened to him has also been hard.”
Tiger King is available to stream on Netflix, now.
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