‘You Might Think This is a Joke’: But ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic Says He’s Not Kidding, He’s Running for President From Prison
As former President Donald Trump ups his attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ahead of a potential 2024 announcement from the fellow Republican, a new celebrity has entered the race.
Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic and Tiger King, is running his 2024 presidential campaign from inside his prison cell.
Maldonado-Passage was the subject of the highly popular Netflix docuseries Tiger King. He is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2019 for a murder-for-hire plot and various wildlife charges related to his treatment of the animals he kept at his Greater Wynnewood Animal Park.
The Tiger King now has a campaign website set up where he dismisses his convictions as part of some larger, vague conspiracy against him. He also emphasized that his candidacy is “not a joke” despite the fact that he’s in prison.
“Thank you for your interest in my Campaign. Yes, I know I am in Federal Prison and you might think this is a joke but it’s not. It is my Constitutional right to do this even from here,” he wrote.
He also referenced Carole Baskin (the woman he was convicted of hiring someone to kill) in his announcement.
“So put aside that I am gay, that I am in prison for now, that I used drugs in the past, that I had more than one boyfriend at once and that Carole hates my guts. This all has not a thing to do with me being able to be your voice. The best thing you have going for supporting me is that I am used to fighting my whole life just to get by. I am broke, they have taken everything I ever worked for away, and it’s time we take this country back,” he wrote.
The website describes the Tiger King as a libertarian. He previously ran a longshot campaign for president in 2016. He also unsuccessfully ran for governor of Oklahoma.
Maldonado-Passage’s legal team previously lobbied for a pardon for their client from Trump just before he left office. Confidence was so high a limousine was reportedly waiting outside his Texas prison in January 2021. He did not end up receiving a pardon from Trump.
