Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix's hit docuseries "Tiger King", voiced his frustration on social media over being excluded from President Donald Trump's latest round of pardons.
This week, Trump issued pardons to several high-profile individuals, including the founder of the dark web drug marketplace Silk Road, and about 1,500 individuals involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, has repeatedly sought a pardon since his sentencing in 2019 to no avail. He took to Instagram to express his disappointment, posting an image of a hunched-over figure in the rain, captioned: "President Trump: You forgot me ... again."
Currently serving a 22-year sentence for attempting to hire a hitman to kill his longtime rival Carole Baskin, along with multiple federal wildlife violations, Exotic accesses social media from the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is being treated for prostate cancer.
"If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the capital [sic] or even have been related to the Bidens, I might have gotten some relief on being in prison innocent," he wrote. "Hell, the guy who killed 2 FBI agents even got a pardon today," Exotic continued. "I can't even get a new trial based on admitted perjury testimony."
His lawyer, Levi McCathern, recently claimed to have "new evidence" proving Exotic's innocence, arguing that key witnesses in the case, including alleged hitman Allen Glover, admitted to perjury.
"Joe Exotic did not hire anyone to murder anyone," McCathern claimed, emphasizing that no murder occurred, no money exchanged hands, and that Exotic was the only person charged.
In the past, Exotic blamed his withheld clemency on being "too innocent and too GAY" for Trump's favor. He even taunted the former president in 2023, Huffpost reported, sarcastically offering to "save [him] a bunk and a bed roll" in prison amid Trump's own legal troubles.
The former president has largely remained silent on the issue. Exotic's supporters continue to push for his release, but the White House has not responded to recent inquiries.
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