Who is Joe Exotic?

Joe exotic. Three weeks ago maybe a handful of people knew his name. He is the founder of The Greater Wynnewood Animal Park which is primarily for big cats. The coronavirus has caused everyone to be quarantined to their homes which has created a lovely space for everyone to binge-watch television. On March 20th, Netflix released the short series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. Soon everyone was talking about the show. Dax Shepard, an actor best known for his role as Tom Marshall in Without a Paddle, tweeted “If I don't get cast as Joe Exotic in the eventual biopic, Hollywood is broken.” Matter of fact, he is not the only actor who wants to play the Tiger King. In the article “Who should play Joe Exotic in a "Tiger King" movie? Dax Shepard and Edward Norton offer themselves up for the role”, Edward Norton is also brought forward and added to a growing list of actors that want to play the now-infamous Joe Exotic. Joe Exotic has found new fame in his Netflix short series but is he worthy of the praise? This documentary seems lighthearted from all of the press, memes, and jokes that arose from it but they are all just “masks of the chilling truth” according to “'Tiger King' memes and Joe Exotic jokes mask the Netflix doc's most chilling takeaway.” Joe Exotic aka “Joseph Maldonado-Passage is serving 22 years in prison for his involvement in a murder-for-hire plot against (Carol) Baskin.” According to “' Tiger King' star Joe Exotic is in coronavirus isolation in jail, husband Dillon Passage says.” Joe exotic is famous because of the short series, but he is infamous for his part in a murder for hire plot.

The world knows him as Joe Exotic, but he was born as Joe Schreibvogel. In the article, “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild”, it details the beginnings of the multifaceted man. He was “born on a farm in rural Kansas”, and “Joe’s parents rarely, if ever, told him they loved him.” Joe seemed to always be looking for love in his life in the short series. Moving from one lover to the next, and the way he lacked parental love may give information into his psyche. Joe was close to his brother Garold, but not his other two siblings. Joe and Garold bonded over their love for animals, which he did not have in common with his other family members. Joe graduated from high school in 1982 and immediately went into the police force in Eastvale. Soon he was promoted to chief of police, “Only a few officers worked under him, and serious crimes were rare.” At this point in his life, Joe, on the outside, seemed to be doing well for himself, but on the inside, he was wrestling with his sexuality. Joe soon realized that was he was gay. Today, being gay is not as taboo as it was in the late ’80s and ’90s by any means. Joe was comfortable around his comrades, but his family was not as kind. Before Joe told his father about his sexuality one of his siblings beat him to the punch. His father’s response: “(his father) made Joe shake his hand and promise not to attend his funeral.” Devastated is too light a word for how Joe felt. After what happened between him and his father, Joe tried to commit suicide by ramming into a concrete barrier after a long day at work. But Joe still had a life to live, and the wreck did not kill him. He decided to be proactive with his life, so he moved to Florida, and underwent intense physical therapy. While in Florida, he was in his first homosexual relationship and had his first interaction with a big cat.

One of his neighbors worked in an “exotic animal park’ and sometimes let Joe feed the baby tigers he brought home. Soon, Joe was hooked on the big cat craze. After Joe’s first “unofficial” marriage to Bryan Rhyme, who he met in Dallas, Joe, his husband, and brother Garold started a small pet store in Texas. Soon they began to expand to a larger exotic pet store, but their joy was short-lived. Garold died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Joe was crushed and permanently immortalized his brother’s face on his forearm with a tattoo. Texas seemed to be a place that was cursed for Joe, so he left for Oklahoma. With the money won from his brother’s lawsuit, Joe bought 16 acres of land just about an hour from the capital of Oklahoma. Soon Joe opened an animal sanctuary, which quickly grew. It had a small beginning with a deer and buffalo but quickly grew to have tigers and bears. Oh my! In 1999, Joe was offered some emus that would change his life. While loading up the emus, some escaped. Joe “shot at least six of them, and they flailed around like chickens that had just been beheaded before they died.” He got in hot water with SPCA and law enforcement for his recklessness, but nothing else. In 2001, Joe’s first husband passed away, and the next year Joe had a new lover/husband J.C Hartpence. Soon after the marriage, Hatpence desperately wanted out of the marriage. So far as to point a gun at Joe in the middle of the night out of desperation. This moment of intense need to leave can be understood, when it came out that Joe had left, “a piece of paper on [Hartpence’s desk]. [On] It was a printed color photograph of the zoo’s largest tiger, Goliath, menacingly baring his teeth over a big slab of meat. “J. C.’s remains” was typed in white letters over the picture. Attached was a Post-it note that read: “If you don’t get your shit together, this is gonna be your reality.” After the divorce, the zoo quickly became Joe’s new passion project.

As time went on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, noticed many violations that Joe was ignoring. From lack of veterinarian care to lack of hygiene care for the animals, Joe quickly rose to #1 on PETA’s takedown list. With 16 acres, handling over 1,000 animals is it any surprise that basic care was lacking. Carol Baskin, and animal rights activist in Florida, also noticed Joe’s mishaps with animals. Baskin and PETA soon began attacking Joe and his eclectic little zoo all in the name of animal rights. Joe decided enough was enough. He began a hateful battle with Baskin which was explicitly shown in the documentary. From podcasts to television episodes to a music video portraying a Baskin lookalike feeding her missing husband to tigers, Joe was filled with hate for Carol Baskin. While in the midst of his battle with Baskin, in 2014, Joe remarried Travis Maldonado and John Finlay in a “three-way ceremony”. Keep in mind both of these men claimed to be straight throughout their marriage to Joe. Finlay escaped the marriage through a divorce and Maldonado through “accidental suicide” according to “' Tiger King': The Disturbing Story of Travis Maldonado's Death”. By 2017, he had lost both of his husbands, a lawsuit for 1 million dollars to Baskin over copyright infringement, and was losing his zoo to one of his business partners. It seemed that Joe had hit rock bottom. After everything Joe had gone through, He began to think about taking out the person in his life who had been a pain since day one. According to “Wildlife park owner 'Joe Exotic' sentenced to 22 years in plot to kill animal rights activist: Joseph Maldonado-Passage, known as "Joe Exotic," was found guilty in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a Florida woman who fought with him over animal care.”, “In November 2017, [Joe promised] to pay $3,000 for Baskin's death and promised thousands more after her death, according to the indictment. The person he promised to pay was an undercover FBI agent.” What an end. Years of feuding was ended in court when Joe was sent to jail for a murder for hire plot meant to take down his arch-nemesis. PETA and Baskin rejoiced as their rival to the animal rights world was thrown in a cage just like his animals. Joe is still in jail and in “quarantine now according to TMZ amid a prison transfer from a country jail to a federal facility in Fort Worth, Texas.” according to “' Tiger King': Joe Exotic Reportedly Under Coronavirus Quarantine in Wake of Prison Transfer.” Joe is in jail, so what now?

The zoo he founded is still up and running with new CEO Jeff Lowe, and Carol Baskin is still fighting for the rights of big cats. This Netflix short series rocked the world, but Joe’s story should be a warning. According to “The Tiger King Podcast Host Wants Margot Robbie to Play Joe Exotic”, a series is coming out about the characters in this live drama, and the world is excited to hear more about the man named Exotic and his feud with the crazy cat lady. But there is an ethical question in the air: Should the entertainment industry be promoting a story of a man who tried to kill a woman who is in jail at the moment still wanting her dead at almost any cost? The answer is in the hands of the consumer.