Joe Exotic’s Legal Team to Visit White House on Wednesday Seeking Pardon; Claims He’s Been Sexually Assaulted by Jail Staff

Netflix star and former zoo-owner Joe Exotic is reportedly asking President Donald Trump for a pardon from his 22-year murder-for-hire sentence, and his legal team is set to hand-deliver a copy of the application to the White House on Wednesday.

Exotic has submitted a 257-page case to Trump, according to TMZ, which argues several reasons why he should be pardoned, including a claim that he was sexually assaulted by prison staff.

“I have been sexually assaulted by jail staff, beat up and tied in a chair to the point the skin came off my arms,” Exotic wrote in his letter to the president, before asking him to excuse his writing and spelling, explaining that his hands have been damaged from the abuse.

“Please be my hero…My hands are damaged from the abuse in jail so I’m sorry for the soppy (sic) writing and spelling,” he added. “Allow me to make you proud, to make America proud, to make the world proud. Be my hero please.” He also solidified his support for Trump and his family, adding “#TrumpJr.2024” to his 257-page case.

Exotic also wrote that he never tried to kill Carole Baskin, the target of his alleged murder-f0r-hire plot — calling his treats “hyperbole,” and believes that one of the reasons he was convicted was anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. Exotic’s legal team, led by Eric Love, also identified his threats as “simply another aspect of his showmanship,” adding they were “merely jokes” made “in bad taste.”

Supplementing his own pleas, Exotic added several character references, including one from his husband Dillon Passage, who wrote a letter detailing how Exotic saved him from addiction. “I see a sweet, big heart man, with good intentions, who took a few steps down a dark road, and he’s just waiting to be pulled out of it,” Passage wrote.

Exotic had already turned to the president for help and Trump was even asked if he would pardon the Tiger King star during a coronavirus task force briefing in early April — amid the height of the show’s popularity. New York Post reporter Steven Nelson asked the president, “One of the biggest rating hits of the coronavirus — aside from these briefings — has been a show on Netflix called Tiger King. The man who’s the star of this, the former zoo owner who’s serving a 22-year prison sentence, he’s asking you for a pardon.”