Of all the shows to come from Netflix over the years, their latest docuseries, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is by far the wildest. As the title suggests, the show’s got a couple of different murder plots, a colorful cast of characters, and big cats. Most of us are self-isolating and practicing social distancing and the stress this moment is causing makes it hard to zone out. We’ve got just the thing to help you out with that!
The perfect antidote to bad news just so happens to be a big cat hoarder named Joseph Maldonado-Passage or as he’s better known on the tiger circuit, Joe Exotic. Exotic ran an exotic animal “zoo” with lions, tigers, monkeys, and other exotics.
His nemesis Carole Baskin, who was accused of murdering her husband, wears exclusively animal print blouses and often a flower crown. She attempts to rescue big cats and other animals from the harm that people like Exotic have caused.
The result is a sort of Hatfield-McCoy style feud that lasts for years between two of the biggest names in the exotic animal industry. The feud culminates in a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in Exotic receiving a 22-year prison sentence.
On top of all of that craziness, Exotic is an out gay man who lives life unabashedly over-the-top. For many viewers, the show is a refuge. There are so many dumb moving parts that it’s easy to lose yourself in Exotic’s world.
Celebrities from across the internet have been sharing social media posts, memes, thoughts, and jokes about the show. Jared Leto even live-tweeted his viewing of the show.
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Jared Leto is a huge fan of the Tiger King.
Celebs cannot get enough of the show’s irresistible camp and the dramatic highs and lows the people involved with the saga have endured.
Chrissy Teigen wants to marry her Amazon delivery driver à la Joe Exotic and his many husbands.
The internet’s favorite mom, Chrissy Teigen, shared a still image from the show. For context, the image is of Exotic and his two lovers getting wed. He was technically married to two of the men at the same time but had a total of four husbands. Teigan shared the image with the joke, “me john and the amazon prime delivery guy next year.”
For many of us stuck inside, we have a very special relationship with our delivery people at the moment.
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 26, 2020
Teigen’s jokes didn’t stop there. She also tweeted a doctored photo of Joe Exotic with her son Miles’s face superimposed on it. Since posting the image Thursday, the tweet has garnered almost 150,000 likes.
Dax Shepard wants to produce and star in the biopic.
If I don’t get cast as Joe Exotic in the eventual biopic, Hollywood is broken.
— dax shepard (@daxshepard) March 26, 2020
Meanwhile, Kristen Bell’s husband Dax Shepard took to twitter to voice he’s incredible casting idea for the inevitable Joe Exotic biopic.
“If I don’t get cast as Joe Exotic in the eventual biopic, Hollywood is broken,” the actor tweeted.
This is a great first step. https://t.co/wcwuVNCcaZ
— dax shepard (@daxshepard) March 26, 2020
Celebs put it out there and the internet obliges! A fan photoshopped Shepard’s face into the now-iconic photo of Joe Exotic.
“This is a great first step,” the actor explained.
Cardi B needs to know ‘whatcha think.’
Cardi B shared an image of Joe Exotic with a sign that reads, “Carole Baskin fed her husband to the tigers. Change my mind.”
Joe Exotic and producers of the show seem to suggest that Carole Baskin murdered her husband and fed him to the tigers that live at her cat rescue. It’s fueled a lot of speculation online and Cardi was happy to poll her many fans, “Whatcha think?” she captioned the photo.
Kim K can’t believe her eyes either.
Has anyone seen Tiger King on Netflix?!?! It is crazy!!!!
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 22, 2020
No stranger to drama, Kim Kardashian weighed in, tweeting “Has anyone seen Tiger King on Netflix?!?! It is crazy!!!!”
She’s not wrong. And, to answer Kardashian’s question, most people are watching Tiger King. It’s the number one show on Netflix at the moment.
Leave it to Meghan McCain to point out Joe Exotic’s political prowess.
Joe Exotic got 19%(!!!) of the vote running for Governor of Oklahoma running as a libertarian… #TigerKingNetflix ????????????????????????
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) March 25, 2020
At one point, the series documents Joe Exotic’s run for Governor in the state of Oklahoma. The rookie politico managed to scrape together 19% of the vote when he ran as a libertarian there. Politico Meghan McCain seemed impressed.
She tweeted, “Joe Exotic got 19% (!!!) of the vote running for Governor of Oklahoma as a libertarian.”
You don’t have to be a celeb to enjoy some escapism at this moment.
It’s a weird time and many of us are feeling a bit isolated and even lonely. Fortunately, the internet allows us to connect with others who are all watching the same bananas TV show about the seedy underworld of big cat confinement.
If you’re looking for a show that’s got comedy, tragedy, crime (all kinds!), moral ambiguity, country music, and ruin, look no further than this Netflix offering. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. Trust us. This is one wild ride!
We’ll leave you with a music video from the one and only Tiger King, Joe Exotic. He produced the video for his single, “I Saw a Tiger.”
