So much for a presidential pardon.
Last week, exiting President Donald Trump announced plans to give out Presidential pardons and clemency to over 100 people. There was speculation on whether Tiger King star Joe Exotic was included on that list. And now that Trump is gone and President Joe Biden is in the White House, it looks like Exotic didn’t make the cut. This is something the “Tiger King” himself was not happy to find out.
“I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump,” Exotic bemoaned on Twitter. “I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first.”
I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first. pic.twitter.com/ysGfwnqlHi
— Joe Exotic (@joe_exotic) January 20, 2021
Joe Exotic became infamous with mainstream audiences after his life of running the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and his feud with animal rights activist Carole Baskin became the topic of Netflix docuseries Tiger King. As depicted in the docuseries, Exotic was convicted to 22-years in prison for 17 counts of animal cruelty and hiring a hitman to murder Baskin.
After the show became popular, there were calls for Trump to pardon Baskin. This includes Donald Trump Jr. telling Sirius XM Radio that Exotic’s conviction “seems aggressive.”
He told the radio show that he “watched the show, but it was like, I don’t know exactly what he was guilty of or wasn’t. It doesn’t seem like he was totally innocent of anything. But when they’re saying, ‘We’re putting this guy away for 30 years,’ I’m saying that seems sort of aggressive.”
This is the stretch Limo standing by at #JoeExotic Fort Worth Lawyers office. I’m told they’re waiting on a call from the White House confirming the presidential pardon before heading to pick him up at the prison. @CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/1tJzQHefxD
— Ken Molestina (@cbs11ken) January 19, 2021
Even further, Joe Exotic’s lawyers were convinced that Trump would pardon Exotic in the last hours of his presidency. They were so sure that they rented a limo. The limo was waiting outside FMC Prison in Fort Worth, Texas along with a hair and makeup team.
But again, it seems their dreams didn’t come true and Joe Exotic is still sitting in prison. His last chance of getting out early with the Trump Administration has, quite literally, flown away.
He has not, which makes this even funnier. They're hoping/expecting he'll get a pardon
— Gunton Blurpus (@CentipedeMouse) January 19, 2021