‘Tiger King’ star Joe Exotic was jailed for trying to have an animal rights activist murdered. (Facebook)
Joe Exotic has hastily withdrawn his lawsuit against the US Department of Justice after learning that his request for a pardon has actually been seen by the president.
As he faces a 22-year stint in federal prison, the “gun-toting gay redneck” of Netflix’s Tiger King is growing ever more desperate for a get-out-of-jail free card from Trump.
With his many grovelling appeals going nowhere, he decided to change his tactics last week by suing the US Justice Department for rejecting his pardon.
Exotic’s six-page complaint accused the acting pardon attorney of not forwarding on the formal request to Trump himself, claiming that the rejection wasn’t valid because the president never saw it.
But he’s now backtracking after it was revealed the pardon did indeed hit Trump’s desk – and presumably, the president denied it anyway.
The news comes after Trump granted a litany of controversial pardons in the final days of his presidency, including his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, ex-adviser Roger Stone and the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In total 26 individuals were granted full pardons on Wednesday (23 December), while a further three received commutations, which usually takes the form of a reduced prison term.
Exotic had hoped he might be one of them after Trump vaguely suggested he would “look into” the Oklahoma zoo owner’s case during a coronavirus press conference back in April.
There’s still time for Trump to come to Joe Exotic’s rescue, but with just 26 days to go until he leaves office, the clock is ticking – and the Tiger King is running out of ideas.
He’s tried letters, he’s tried Fox News, he’s tried a $94 million civil rights lawsuit against the federal government. His husband even tried a 1,350-mile road trip to Washington in a tour bus emblazoned with Joe Exotic’s face.
With none of their efforts succeeding, we’re wondering if he’s starting to regret booking that monster truck Dodge Ram limousine to drive him home from prison.