Burning with ‘Tiger King’ fever? The Joe Exotic questions we’re still asking

After binging the riveting seven-part documentary series Tiger King, you may be left in a world of wonder. Joe Exotic took us on a wild ride with his colorful but chaotic life. Our heads are left spinning – all we can do is sit on these burning questions. 

How can one person’s life be filled with so much madness? How did he get away with all this for so long? How did I watch so many of those episodes in a row? Why can’t there be more? 

While many of these perplexing questions have no conceivable answer, we still have some lingering questions that we seriously want answered. 

Is Joe Exotic still in jail? 

If you’ve watched only the first episode of Tiger King you know that Joe Exotic went to jail and has been there since 2018. However, you may be wondering – is Joe still imprisoned? 

Joe was convicted and sentenced on a whopping total of nineteen accounts. These include violating the Endangered Species Act, falsifying records, and murder-for-hire. All of these accounts issued him a sentence of twenty-two years in prison in January 2020.

Therefore – yes, Joe Exotic is still in prison and he will be for another twenty years. After Tiger King became so popular many have questioned whether this long sentence is just. Some asked Donald Trump if he could do anything about pardoning Joe’s sentence. Trump even replied, saying, “I’ll take a look.” Who knows, maybe we’ll get to see Joe roam free sooner than we expected. 

How is Joe doing in prison?

When the series ended, we saw Joe’s attitude towards life morph. He no longer had his high-spirited demeanor. But after his devastating sentence, it was clear that Joe was rattled. This leaves us wondering how he has processed his sentence and how prison life is treating him. 

We do know that Joe has plans to bounce back. From prison, Joe has made plans to file a $94 million discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Federal Wildlife Service for allegedly creating an anti-gay conspiracy that targets him.

Though he clearly has his heart set on revenge, Joe has also opened up about what he’s thinking about in prison. Joe has denied his culpability for many things but he has expressed remorse for some of his actions – particularly his treatment of his animals. 

Joe reportedly said, “When I left the zoo and I sent my chimpanzees to the sanctuary in Florida and imagine what my chimpanzees went through for 18 years I’m ashamed of myself.” At least we can see that Joe has some clarity about his responsibility for his actions. 

Are Joe And Dillon Still Married?

At the end of the Netflix series, we see Joe marry his fifth husband, Dillon Passage. Joe & Dillon met in 2017, just eight months before Joe’s arrest. They met through Joe’s cousin and quickly tied the knot. Are they still together now after Joe has been incarcerated for two years? 

We know that the couple was tight up until Joe was arrested, but after that, it’s possible that the two have faced troubles. When asked about Dillon in prison, Joe affirms that they are still married and that, “It’s been a year and a half of sleeping in a car and going from couch to couch and house to house so I can’t thank my husband enough for standing beside me.” 

Based on this, we can assume that they are still united and going strong. However, with Joe Exotic’s new fame he may attract the attention of other suitors. We’ll just have to wait and see if the couple makes it in the years to come. 

How is Joe Exotic going to deal with the Carole Baskin situation?

Throughout Tiger King, Joe and Carole had a vicious relationship. After everything that happened, we are left wondering – will Joe move on? Or is he still fuming about Carole? 

When asked about his never-ending drama with Carole, Joe assures us that he’s ready for it to end. He says, “I’m done with the Carole Baskin saga, it’s now time to turn the tables.” 

Instead of looking for payback, Joe is more interested in his own freedom. After shrugging off the Carole conflict Joe says he’s ready “for Joe to get out of jail a free man exonerated from all these charges.”

Is that Joe’s real singing voice?

One of the most surprising elements of Joe Exotic’s journey wasn’t the tigers, hit-men, or polygamy – it was his sudden venture into the country music scene. While we were all dazzled by Joe’s stellar singing voice, many have asked how someone with his speaking voice can sound like a country music star in his videos. 

Despite the fact that we were all captivated by Joe’s cheesy videos, it was clear that he was lip-syncing. According to Vanity Fair, there is a reason that Joe’s singing voice sounds so different from his speaking voice – and it’s not autotune. The reason is simply that it’s not his voice. 

Vanity Fair affirms that the tracks were actually performed by Vince Johnson and Danny Clinton. The producer of Tiger King has mentioned that when the production crew got Exotic to sing for them, he clearly was not a man of musical talent.

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