Joseph Maldonado-Passage, a.k.a Joe Exotic from Tiger King, will be re-sentenced for his two murder-for-hire convictions. Exotic rose to widespread notoriety following the Netflix docuseries, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, which detailed the bizarre nature of his life as a famous big cat breeder and zookeeper. In 2019, Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison for hiring hitmen to kill wildlife activist, Carole Baskin, as well as committing multiple wildlife crimes. Since the show's release, audiences developed a love/hate relationship with Exotic, while most audiences simply despised Baskin.
As reported by Deadline, Exotic will be re-sentenced for the charges made against him for hiring hitmen to murder Baskin. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver ruled that the original court mishandled Exotic's two murder-for-hire counts, claiming the two charges should have been handled as one. This may lead to a shorter sentence, though no further details have been released. While serving his sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, the outspoken and eccentric big cat handler made attempts to get other celebrities on his side. In addition to seeking a pardon from Donald Trump, Exotic wrote Kim Kardashian a letter, begging for help.
Both Baskin and Exotic served as wildly entertaining real-life characters, drawing in millions of viewers during the Covid-19 pandemic's peak quarantine days of TV binging. The feud between Baskin and Exotic served as a storyline in and of itself, which has lent itself as dynamite material for scripted content. Just recently, however, Amazon cancelled their Tiger King project starring Nicolas Cage due to supposedly lacking relevance. Though Tiger King's moment as a series may have came and went, Exotic's draw toward being in the public eye is unlikely dormant. With his new release date pending, Exotic could resurface in the media sooner rather than later.
Source: Deadline
