‘Tiger King’ star pleads for help from behind bars: I’ll be dead soon
Joe Exotic is famous, but he’s not doing well at all.
In an open, handwritten letter to fans, followers and supporters on Monday, the so-called Tiger King pleads for help from behind bars, TMZ first reported.
The breakout Netflix star, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado Passage, says if he doesn’t get sprung soon he is not sure what is going to happen.
”My soul is dead,” he writes from Grady County Jail in Oklahoma where he’s serving a 22-year sentence on murder-for-hire charges. “I struggle every day to hold on to what little hope that I can find.”
Maldonado Passage goes on to say that conditions at the Oklahoma facility are subpar and he’s living in “hell on earth.”
Moreover, the former animal handler says his health is failing and he’s not getting the medication he needs for his condition, common variable immune deficiency. The 57-year-old, however, denies having the new coronavirus, as was rumored.
His heart is broken, too; Joe claims husband Dillon Passage no longer communicates with him.
Maldonado Passage predicts if he does not get pardoned by President Donald Trump or get some outside legal help from a crusading celebrity like Kim Kardashian, he’ll be dead in “two to three months.”
A federal jury found Maldonado Passage guilty in April 2019 of trying to hire someone to kill rival Carole Baskin in 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Oklahoma. He also was convicted on animal-abuse charges.
“Hear my scream for help,” ends the letter, which includes a mention of George Floyd, whose killing sparked national outrage over police brutality.
“His message got lost in the riots,” Joe writes. “My message got abandoned for money and fame.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 4:12 PM.
