Does Joe Exotic have coronavirus? Husband gives update on Tiger King star’s health
“Tiger King” star Joe Exotic is OK. We think.
According to a report from UK’s The Mirror, the subject of one of Netflix’s biggest shows. was hospitalized after contracting coronavirus behind bars.
On Friday morning, the animal handler’s husband, Dillon Passage, told the Miami Herald that the report was false.
“Joe does not have the virus,” he wrote via Instagram. “The media is so dramatic.”
But Joe (real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage) has been self-isolating at Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth after fellow prisoners tested positive for the disease, Passage said in a Tuesday Sirius XM Radio interview with Andy Cohen, who recently recovered from coronavirus himself.
“They are putting him on a COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases,” Passage said.
A spokeswoman for FMC Fort Worth did not respond to a request to the Miami Herald’s request for comment about the prisoner’s health, but did refer us to Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website to find out more information about inmates and COVID-19. It also says facilities are closed to visitors (including lawyers) “until further notice.”
Passage told Cohen that since his husband’s move to the new facility, they had not spoken.
But if you want to write to the docuseries star, have at it.
On his official Facebook page, he (aka someone handling his account) sent a letter to fans with his address (Joe will write back if you send money for the commissary).
Maldonado-Passage is currently serving a 22-year sentence on charges of animal abuse and two counts of murder for hire.
The 57-year-old was found guilty in 2019 for paying a hitman $3,000 to kill a rival, Tampa Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin. Her husband Jack “Don” Lewis is still missing and Maldonado has told anyone who would listen that she killed him, though the man’s body has never been found.
On Monday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office sent a Facebook message asking for the public’s help in shedding light on the cold case.
“Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” was released on Netflix on March 20.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 11:25 AM.
