Joe Exotic, the former Oklahoma zoo operator currently serving a 22-year sentence for plotting the murder of his co-star on the hit show “Tiger King,” has written a letter to President Donald Trump begging for a pardon.
“Be my hero please,” reads the appeal for clemency penned by the 57-year-old convict, whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage. “If I have ever looked up to anyone it would be you ...”
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The rambling two-page letter is handwritten and pleads for “real justice” while echoing some of the same criticisms the president has leveled toward recent federal investigations involving himself.
The letter expresses empathy for Trump while accusing agents in the Justice Department of lying to further an agenda.
“I have seen what they do to you and can’t believe it, but when I saw 2 Asst U.S. Attorneys, 2 FBI agents and 1 Federal Wildlife Agent set in court and know their witnesses were lying under oath and even helped them I was ashamed of our country,” Exotic wrote.
Exotic also mentions that he voted for Trump in 2016, the same year the zookeeper launched his own bid for the White House as an independent candidate. Exotic reportedly only made the ballot in Colorado and received 962 votes nationwide.
“Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” debuted March 20 — a documentary rife with dysfunction and corruption among a cast of unsavory characters.
The series explores the esoteric world of big cat collectors and their ongoing rivalry with animal conservationists.
The retaliatory feud that erupted between Exotic and wildlife activist Carole Baskin is what ultimately led to Exotic’s conviction for trying to hire a hitman to kill the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida.
The series was viewed by more than 34 million people during its first 10 days of release, according to Nielsen ratings.
The president said he first became aware of Exotic in April when reporters pressed him about jokes his son Don Jr. told on a radio show about seeking a pardon on the man’s behalf, according to The Associated Press.
By June 18, Trump had caught up, revealing that he had watched “a couple” episodes of the wildly popular Netflix true-crime series. The president expressed some intrigue about the show and said he would “look into” the prospects of a pardon.
“That’s a whole strange deal going on,” Trump said. “I’ll tell you that’s a strange guy and a lot of strange people surrounding him.”
Exotic, imprisoned in Fort Worth, Texas, also name-dropped the president’s son in his letter.
"I am begging you to listen to the millions who see the truth. I’m asking you to listen to your own son Donald Jr and make this right and grant me a miracle “a pardon” and let me put this behind me ... Allow me to make you proud, to make America proud, to make the world proud. Be my hero please."
Trump has faced widespread criticism after granting clemency to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in February, and his close friend, Roger Stone, whose 40-month prison sentence was commuted in July.
As of July, Trump had commuted the sentences of 10 people, not including Stone, but he has received 7,786 petitions for commutation, according to The New York Times, citing the Justice Department. This puts him far behind his most recent predecessor, President Barack Obama, who commuted the sentences of 1,715 people, but closer to President George W. Bush, who commuted the sentences of 11 people.
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