Saving Joe Exotic: A Bizarre Mar-A-Lago Subplot

Hashtag: "FIXTHISSHIT"

I swear everything just keeps getting weirder.

On our way to Mar-a-Lago a couple of weeks ago, my oldest son Arlo sent me back to the dismal and disorienting days of 2020 when he asked that I follow Joe Exotic on Instagram. 

It’s easy to forget how, amid a frazzling COVID era, the Tiger King sensation provided us with a peculiar sense of comfort thanks to the bazaar coupling of a global pandemic and the eccentric world of a flamboyant Tiger trainer. At the time, Joe Exotic provided us with a much-needed escape— blending the surreal and the familiar in a way that resonated with people during such uncertain times. It became a favorite pandemic series because it offered a comedic escape from all the political propaganda suffocating our screens, pushing daily reminders of death on our doorstep.

If you recall, the producers of  Tiger King certainly garnered public sympathy for Joe, portraying him as the real victim of the story in both seasons. As one of Netflix’s most-watched shows of all time, I’m assuming most of you binged the series too, so you might remember how the story’s primary antagonist was originally Carol Baskin in Season 1 but then shifted focus to wildcat lovers Jeff and Lauren Lowe in Season 2, all three characters painted by story producers as manipulative con artists solely out to “get Joe” from day one. 

The series may have brought us bizarre comfort during a period when comedic relief was necessary for survival but I’m wondering now (thanks to Arlo) if people have forgotten that Joe Exotic isn’t a fictional character. He’s a very real person facing very real consequences after this fall from grace as a once colorful cat-crazed zoo-keeping showman to a now isolated prisoner stripped of all his primal necessities: exotic animals, internet validation, public fanfare, undying political ambitions, and an array of overly enabling young gay lovers. 

Arlo didn’t forget.

Because he was so relentless in this pursuit, trying to convince me to look deeper into Joe’s case, asking that I use my platform to help “Free Joe,” I gave Joe (currently behind bars, serving a 21-year-sentence in federal prison but has garnered a lot of public support from fans all over the world who believe he was framed) a mindless follow on IG.

I was not expecting this follow to overshadow another notoriously flamboyant ego.