All language subtitles for 6576756756756756756rtre

Yes, please. So, one of the biggest
rating hits of the coronavirus

has been a show called Tiger King...
Yeah.

..and the man who's the star
of this is a former zoo owner

who's serving a 22-year
prison sentence.

He's asking you for a pardon,
saying he was unfairly convicted.

He has 22 years for what?
What did he do?

He allegedly hired someone to murder
an animal rights activist,

but he said that he didn't do that.

Would you recommend a pardon?

I'm not weighing in on Tiger King.

I don't think you would.
I don't think we would.

Go ahead. Do you have a question?

I'll take a look.

Is that Joe Exotic?
That's Joe Exotic?

So, this is a letter that was sent
by Joe Exotic from jail.

It was forwarded on to me
because I'm mentioned in it,

and it says, "I'm being kept
locked down 24/7 with nothing,

"so my life sucks.

"Please tell everyone in the UK
I love them,

"and message Louis Theroux
that I need to tell the real story,

"but they keep me silenced."

Here he comes. Yeah, you guys are
going to throw a mic on him? Yeah.

Back in the back pocket,
is that cool? Yeah.

Are they going to follow you?

Like I said, as long as they don't
mind me cussin'.

I got to know the gun-toting, proud
mullet-wearing zoo owner

Joe Exotic in 2011.

Stay where you are for a second.
There goes that serious thing.

That's what I see on the internet!

OK.

All you see is Louis...

I was making a programme
about dangerous animals

that live in captivity.

ROAR

Scared the hell out of me!

Eight years later, he was convicted

of conspiring to murder animal
rights activist Carole Baskin.

The jury came back finding
Joseph Maldonado-Passage guilty

on all 19 counts.

Two of those largest ones

were the alleged use of interstate
commerce for murder for hire.

The saga was recounted in
a seven-part documentary series

that swept the world,

making a global icon
of the man I'd once known.

All right, let's go.

Come on, Louis.

Louis, my bud.

Now a campaign was under way
casting doubt over Joe's conviction

and aiming to have him freed.

Pardon Joe Exotic!

An army of supporters
was mobilising.

And so, nine years on, I was going
back to pick up where I left off

in the stranger-than-fiction
tale of Joe Exotic.

Easy, you want to show him
your stuff?

This is Isai.

Easy? Easy.

Yeah. How are you doing?
I'm good. How about yourself?

This is Joe Exotic
Central Station, right here.

We created this area.

So this is the pardon Joe Exotic
call to arms.

Correct.

"Dear Joe Exotic fan,

"I want President Trump
to hear from you

"in support of my
presidential pardon.

"I would like to sincerely extend
thanks to you all

"for your loyalty
during this trying time."

"Dear Joe Exotic, AKA Tiger King.

"Hello, my name is Ella,
I'm 12 years old, turning 13 soon.

"I just have a question.
Why tigers?

"My favourite pen pal, Joe.

"My friend asked me to make her
pickled Brussels sprouts.

"I've never even tried them.
Have you?"

Does he really read all of this?

Yes.

He reads all of them,

and he responds to every
last one of those fans.

Every single one of them,
he responds to 'em.

He wrote over 5,000 letters
in four months.

Really?! Handwritten.
From prison? Yeah. Amazing.

Yeah, he is singlehandedly,

I mean, by far the most
popular prison inmate

in the history of the United States.

KNOCK AT DOOR

Hi, Joe. Hi! I'm Louis. Joe.

Nice to meet you. Good to meet you.
How's it going? Good. Awesome.

Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for having us.
Are you good? Yeah, good.

We appreciate you coming.

OK!

You are the first people here
ever to do a film crew,

and probably will be the last.
We appreciate it.

Well, we appreciate it.

This story needs telling.

Has anyone seen Joe Exotic anywhere?

Are y'all ready? We're ready.
Shall we go? Let's do it.

Where do you want to take us?

Where do you want to go?

Is there a tiger or a lion you have
more of a rapport with, maybe?

Bears are more my thing.

Bears and the chimps.

Shall we see the bears?

Yeah, why not? Want to do the bears?

Can we do it without
your sunglasses?

You're going to mess up
my face-lift!

I just had a face-lift.

Let me go get some Twinkies
for the bear.

This is footage that's never
aired before,

of me on my first day of filming
with Joseph Schreibvogel,

better known as Joe Exotic.

I'd stumbled across his website

and immediately been taken
by his flamboyant personality

and his enormous park.

You never saw my bullet holes,
did you?

I got shot in the chest three times.

HE CHUCKLES

Is it a joke?

What are you showing me?
Tattoos of bullet holes!

Let's see. Let me see them again!

Show me again.

There's one...there's one...

..there's one.

We were doing a joke and...
You've got pierced nipples, too?

We were doing a joke...
How is that...?

That's unconventional, isn't it?

Are you a little unconventional?
Yeah.

Are you happy to talk
about your private life at all?

Hey, my life is an open book.

I have nothing to hide.

Then nobody can
tell stories about you.

So, what's your story?

What's my story?

You really want to know?
Private life. You asked. Yeah.

You really want to know? Yeah.

OK.

I'm gay.

I'm married to a man -
have been for eight years -

and we both have the same boyfriend
that lives with us, as well.

So, it's kind of a menage a trois?

Would that be the phrase? I guess!

I don't understand French,
but yeah.

Look! We need a bigger bathtub.

Joe's zoo, the Garold Wayne
Exotic Animal Memorial Park,

spread out over 16 acres of
Wynnewood, Oklahoma,

and contained more than 1,000
animals, including 150 tigers.

Are we OK to come in? Yeah.
TIGER GROWLS

Is this safe?

Come here. Come here!

They'll reach clear out to here.

Ugly face!

Hey, want a drink? Ugly face!

OK. Smile. Big girl.

That's some good stuff, huh?

CRASH
Ooh!

Come here. Monique! What?

What is that?!

He said, "That's my girlfriend!"

He said, "My girlfriend," huh?

LOW SNARL

What?

If I got in there with these two,

would they be all right with me?

If he was to get you...

..he would not...he would not kill
you and eat you right away.

He's going to torment you.

I'd just shoot you.

You would shoot me? Yeah.
In the head?

Yeah!

Cos I'm not going to get you back,

so why make you suffer?!

HE CHUCKLES

Hm.

Joe advertised his park
as a sanctuary for exotic animals

whose private owners
could no longer keep them.

All right, guys,
we can't let you touch him,

but we can just let you see him.

He's going to bring him around so
you can see him.

About three weeks old,
he just got sponsored last weekend.

We're waiting on the name.

Visitors could sponsor animals,

paying for cages
with monthly donations,

but the park made most of its money

by allowing the public
to handle tiger cubs.

You can talk a little bit,
can't you?

24 hours old. 24 hours old.

Oh, that's the one
that had cubs last night, right?

Please do not touch these guys.

Isn't it amazing?

How little they are.

This makes 12
I have in the house now.

APPLAUSE
Oh, wow.

So, will he stay here, or...?

Well, most of these are already
spoken for, for other zoos.

Oh, OK. We'll have three that will
stay with us out of the 12.

How much is the sponsorship?

Just different.
We'll talk about it up front. OK.

The most lucrative and controversial
aspect of Joe's fundraising

was his cub-petting road show.

It travelled America visiting malls,

offering customers a chance to pay
for photos with infant animals.

Olivia!

Not too tight. Not too tight, baby.
There you go. It's OK.

How are you doing?
Good. How are you?

I'm Louis. Louis, I'm Beth.

You've been here all week,
is that right?

We started yesterday
and we'll be here through Sunday,

set up every day so that we can be
here to...

Hopefully people will come
and enjoy the animals

and...go play with the tigers.

Who goes in these two?

This right here is Fergie,

and this right here, over to
your right, is the older cats.

Fergie is one of the bigger...
Who's Fergie?

He's the, uh, liger. The liger.

And the bear?

The bear, she stays
on the other side, over there.

So, these animals could be
out here for...

They'll be on the road for maybe
a couple of months? Yes.

And how do you think they like it?

Cos some might think,
"Oh, it's a bit stressful for them

"being trucked around like that."

It's not stressful on them at all.

They're very content, very happy,

and they enjoy coming out
and getting the attention.

Do you think they're happy
in the cages?

I don't really want this to go
anywhere else about this, OK?

As far as they're...

I don't want to say
anything else, OK?

I just don't want to. OK. OK?

You're basically saying, yes,
they are, basically, isn't that...?

Well, yes, absolutely.

I mean, this is the life they know

and this is the life that they're
going to be very happy with.

Joe's road show required
a constant stream of new cubs,

and made him a frequent target
of animal rights activists.

One in particular preoccupied him
to the point of obsession.

This name Carole Baskin
keeps coming up... Mm-hm.

..and it seems to be something
that's on your mind.

See, this is...this is
what's going on right now.

This is an alert Carole Baskin
just put out yesterday.

Let me rewind.

So, there's someone called
Carole Baskin.

Yeah. Who is she?

She's a psychotic woman

that supposedly killed
her husband in '97,

that owns Big Cat Rescue
in Tampa, Florida.

I don't think we can say...

I don't know that we can say
all that, for legal reasons.

JOE SNIGGERS

She's an animal rights person?

We don't know what she is.

She runs a...?
She runs a... Sanctuary?

..shoddy sanctuary
in Tampa, Florida.

What do you allege that she did?

Well, she's the prime suspect
in her husband's disappearance.

Her husband disappeared.
Yeah, in 1997.

You think she may have...
um, whacked her husband?

I think she fed him to the tigers.

In a way, whether or not
that's true,

what does that have to do
with her allegations against you?

Well, I mean, our agenda is,
by the year 2015,

is to control the entire cat...
exotic cat population.

I haven't watched this in ten years.

It's just weird.

You know, I had no idea it was going
to lead to a federal case,

and Joe getting 22 years.

You think this is just a...
a game for me?

This is... This is how many
letters she has wrote my clients.

Saying what?
That we are abusing animals.

Can I see? You can.

Which kind of clients,
what kind of clients?

My malls, my advertisers, my shows.

How badly does it hurt you?
Financial wise?

Yeah, her activities?
Oh... Since 2006,

she's probably cost us
$5 million plus.

She has become one of America's
biggest domestic terrorists.

In a way, shouldn't your focus
be keeping your park going,

maximising your resources?
But I can't keep my park going

as long as this bitch is around.
Why?

Because she harasses
everybody we deal with.

In the years after we filmed,

Joe shared, his grievances
with a growing audience

on his regular YouTube show.

One thing you will never do,
bitch, is shut me up.

We hear it's Carole's birthday
next month.

We're shipping her two of these!

His rants about Carole Baskin
developed into overt threats

that would later be used
in evidence at Joe's trial.

Carole Baskin better never, ever,
ever see me face to face.

That is how frickin'
tired of this shit I am.

Well, hello there.

All right?

Welcome to Big Cat Rescue!

Thank you!

I was worried about the weather,

but this doesn't look
too bad, does it?

I brought an umbrella this time.

Is that what you call Howard,
your umbrella?

THEY LAUGH
He's my rock.

Hey, all you cool cats and kittens,
it's Carole at Big Cat Rescue.

Howard and Carole Baskin

are the husband-and-wife team
behind Big Cat Rescue,

a sanctuary in Tampa, Florida,
that takes in abused animals

and campaigns to end
breeding in captivity.

I've been providing care for
exotic cats for more than 30 years,

and if there's one thing
I know for sure,

it's that big cats
don't belong in cages.

Priya's a 17-year-old tiger.

And where did Priya come from,
Carole?

It was a tiger breeding mill
out in Colorado

called Serenity Springs.

They're breeding the cubs
for photos, mainly?

That's the primary thing.

People paying to have their picture
made with a cute little cub -

and they can only use them between
about 8 to 12 weeks safely,

and then there's nowhere
for them to go,

except for the ones like her,

who end up just pumping out cubs
in a tiger mill.

So, someone like Joe called
his facility a sanctuary.

He would also say, "Oh, I'm rescuing
cats from people who can't keep them

"and taking care of tigers
so they can live out their lives."

So, what's the difference?

The first time that Joe Schreibvogel
came up on my radar was in 2004,

and he was quoted in an article
in the Oklahoman

as saying that this lion cub

that was very crippled
from all of the inbreeding

that had happened at his facility,
he was there talking about her,

and so, from that point forward
is where I started paying attention

to what was happening there.

Sanctuaries don't breed.

They don't buy,
they don't sell these animals.

A place that is claiming
to be a sanctuary

and saying that they're
rescuing animals

while they're breeding more of them
for life in prison,

that's a zoo.
That's not a sanctuary.

For her animal rights work,

Carole has paid the price
of being fiercely hated,

as was shown in evidence
submitted at court.

I'm the most dangerous
exotic animal owner

on this planet right now -

and before you bring me down,

it is my belief...

..that you will stop breathing.

As you know, in 2011,
I filmed at GW zoo, Joe's park,

and he ranted about Carole,
it won't surprise you to know,

calling you, at one point,
the number one terrorist in America.

How do you account for the level
of hatred he had for you, Carole?

I think because an organisation
like PETA coming after him

is an organisation,
whereas, with me,

he could blame it on
a single person,

but the battle was never with him.

The battle's always been to protect
the big cats from people like him.

We were the ones who were stopping
the mall exhibits.

Right. We were effective.

We were having an impact -

one by one, these malls were saying,
"No, you can't come here any more,"

and that, understandably,
really pissed him off.

JOE MURMURS

One of my discoveries going back
over my old footage

was that, even with me,

Joe had made dark and apparently
serious references

to the possibility
of Carole being killed.

I want to show you
how serious people are.

OK, put the camera off.

Put the camera off. I want to show
you how serious this is getting.

OK...

People are so fed up with it

that this guy right here
is a hit man in Tampa, Florida,

and he's gotten off
of everything he's ever done,

and people are considering it.

That's how out of control
this is getting.

What is the next step? If we can't
get anywhere with this lawsuit...

..somebody is just
going to have to...

I don't... I don't even know
any more.

I've been to the
Department of Justice,

I've been to the Attorney General.

Who do you go to and say, "Look,
something bad's fixing to happen

"if y'all don't step in
and put a stop to this"?

The A-Team?
The A-Team, there you go.

But, seriously, it's getting to the
point somebody's going to die.

She's either going to kill one of us

or somebody is going to
have her killed.

Um, what do you make of that?

Joe characteristically would talk
unguardedly

in front of the whole world,

but here he's saying it, like,
he's like, "Turn the camera off.

"I want to tell you something off
the record, or behind the scenes,"

and he's saying,
"One of us is going to die,"

and that makes you take
it more seriously in retrospect,

but, at the time,
it felt...like talk.

I had entirely forgotten
this conversation with Joe,

and, at the time,
hadn't even realised

the camera was still recording.

I can only assume I took
what he was saying

as an expression
of his overactive imagination.

But, seriously, it's getting to the
point somebody's going to die.

She's either going to kill one of us

or somebody is going
to have her killed.

TRAIN HORN BLOWS

In the background to Joe's
behaviour at the park

was an area of rural Oklahoma

beset by drugs
and dwindling opportunities.

For many young people,

the zoo offered the closest thing
to an escape.

In 2011,
after a few days of filming,

I'd come to see the potential
for an entire documentary

all about Joe and his world,

and I began interviewing
the people around him.

Workers lived on site in trailers,
surviving on $150 a week

and food donated by Wal-Mart,

but were pleased to have a chance
to be involved

in what must have seemed
an exciting lifestyle.

Among those I met was Ray,
who, after a three-year stint,

was preparing to leave the park.

So, where do you actually stay?

I stay in the middle bedroom.
Oh, down there?

Come on.

RAY LAUGHS

There's my room.

How old are you?

30.

Do you think this may be it for you,
once you've left this time?

No. No?

Joe'll call. I'll come back.

Why? Just way I am.

Joe gave me an opportunity
to better myself.

I'll do anything for Joe.
And he knows it.

He has my phone call...
He has my phone number!

So, where are we going?

We gotta go up to the office and
interview an applicant for a job.

And you were saying...
I bet you $100

that, A, he's only got
half his teeth,

B, he's probably been...

..a felony conviction

of some kind of drug charge,

and if he's got a car,

which I probably doubt,

and nowhere to live.

In a way, you kind of...

In a way, you kind of rescue
and rehome your employees. People.

Do you? Yeah.

Two years ago we took
in a chimpanzee AND its owner

because neither one of them
had a home.

The members of Joe's inner circle

also tended to be people
looking for a second chance.

His park manager, John Reinke,
was a former bungee ride attendant.

He'd lost both his legs
in a zip line accident,

and had bonded with a disabled
lion called Bonedigger.

Oh...

Man, that's a lot of weight!

Oh, my gosh.

He is getting so big.

If he starts to eat you,
what is the protocol?

If I have any problem at all,

I yell "banana",
these guys will help me out.

For real? Yeah. Banana? Banana.

Are we all right with the glasses?

Yeah, better... Better without.

Really bright!

Joe's husband, John Finlay, had been
one month out of high school

when he came to live at the park.

How do you think it's going so far?

Good.

Everything's
as it should be right now.

And Joe...Joe seems
to be enjoying it.

He was a bit tense this morning,
but now he's more relaxed.

Yeah, he's... Everything's starting
to go as he planned. Sorry...

Sorry. If we just get up there
and do it, is that easier? Yeah.

You've worked here for a while,
John?

Eight years. Do you enjoy it?

Oh, yeah.

How did you get involved?

I just needed a job
and come around,

and luckily I get hired at the time,
so...

Are you happy to talk about your
relationship with Joe, as well?

That's fine. You're basically...

..in a kind of a domestic
arrangement with him.

Well, yeah.

You could call it that.
You wear his ring.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Wear it proudly, too.

TIGER CUB YOWLS

What do you love about Joe?

Everything, actually.

He's taught me a lot.

Uh...I was just a little snot-nosed
19-year-old when I first started,

and...now I'm 27 and know quite
a bit more than what I did.

And there's also Paul, right? Mm-hm.

And what is Paul?

He's...just something
Joe wanted to add in one day,

and I said yeah.

Isn't that right?
And does that work?

Mm-hm.

Paul seems a little more mysterious
than some of the other people here,

because he doesn't wear the uniform.

That's because he's not an employee.

He's not? He's not a volunteer?

Uh-uh. Well... I live here.
He's my other half.

You know what's weird is,
I met him when he was 19,

and I met him when he was 19.

JOE LAUGHS

Is that important to you? That's an
important part of your world?

Yeah. Having two props, two pillars?

You know what? It used to never be,
because when I started this,

it was just me
and my other half back then,

but he died in 2001,

and before then,
it was never three people.

There's two men in your life.

Yes. Is that difficult?

No.

What better could you ask for

of having a best friend,
a lover, a relationship,

someone that likes to hunt, hike,
fish and do man things

without having to worry about some
girl bitching about it all the time?

OK?!

It's also, you're never alone.

It's not about sex,
it's about having a friend.

Joe's need for companionship

was something many of those in his
circle would comment on -

but the vulnerability of the people
he attracted also gave him power.

Within his park,
he was unaccountable.

In later years, most of Joe's
friends would move away.

One of the few still in the area
is his niece Chelsea.

Hi, there. How are you doing?
Good. How are you?

You must be Chelsea. Yes, I am.

Shall we come in? Yes. OK.

She lives in a house that once
belonged to Joe's parents,

and which remains a repository
for family photos and memorabilia.

That's me and Joe.

You were close enough to Joe
that even after you'd grown up,

or as you were growing up,
you were visiting the park

and volunteering at the park?

Yes, I worked there off and on
since it's been open. Mm-hm.

That is me playing
with one of the lions

that was in Joe's front yard.

That was at GW?

Yeah, that's in Joe's front yard.

Wow.

How did he... How did Joe change
as the years went by?

I want to say it was after he
learned how to make a quick buck,

really, like, "Oh, this...

"If you tell people this, they'll
donate money to you. Oh, cool."

And you know, I think even made
a Facebook or YouTube video

at one point in time that says,

"Who needs to work
when you have sponsors like mine?"

And he posted a picture
of a car or something,

and, you know, that's exactly
his attitude over time.

He... The way this family
would describe him is,

he always thought he was
more or less above the law -

but you don't think, "Oh,
my family is capable of murder."

No way. But the more he changed,

and, like, just his attitude
towards people,

now I'm just like...
I'm an idiot for not seeing it.

I spent time with him, as well.
Right.

What I found was, you were aware
that he was doing things

that were at best questionable,
right? Mm-hm.

And you could see
that it was somewhat chaotic,

and yet it was hard not to
warm to him

and almost feel a little bit
protective of him.

What you've seen as chaotic,
I thought was normal,

because that's how I was taught.

Just like...forging
the vet certificates.

You did that? I did it.

I filled out vet certificates that
were already signed by a vet. I did.

What did that achieve, though? I'm
wondering why he asked you... So...

You had to have a vet certificate
for certain states at that time,

and if he was going
to a different state

that required a vet certificate,

I would have to fill out
what animals he had with him

and then send it to them.

To give the impression that a
local vet had checked them out? Yes.

I didn't know it was illegal,

just like running people's credit
cards every month,

writing down their credit card
numbers and keeping it on file.

I didn't know
that was illegal either.

Because after a while, I would have
to take phone calls of people irate,

"I told you to stop running
my credit card

"and you ran it again this month,"
and... Yeah.

It seems to me that he was
increasingly intent

on becoming famous.

He's dying to be famous,
like, that was his goal.

I remember the first...

..YouTube video he made,
one of the first ones,

it was like, "Oh, folks,
I'm going to Hollywood.

"My dream's come true.
I'm going to Hollywood."

And that never happened,
he never went to Hollywood,

but he made his own Hollywood.

His little fortress up there
that he created,

he did what he wanted to,

and, you know, got away with it
for so long.

Joe's quest for fame stretched
back years.

Even in his time before the zoo,

while running a pet store in Texas
with his older brother, GW,

he'd carefully saved
all his newspaper cuttings.

Show business, my God!

Light might need to come closer.

In my time at the park,

he'd hosted a low-budget
YouTube show.

I think we have a Gary from Tulsa,
Oklahoma, on there

that says he can't hear me.

Let me turn you up, then.

OK, go ahead and talk.

Julie from Colorado - I think!

Trying to keep track of all these
fans all over the United States.

FANFARE PLAYS

Later, a succession of TV producers
would make their way to the zoo

and add polish to his broadcasts,
creating portentous graphics

as Joe continued to fixate
on his feuds

in freewheeling attacks
on perceived enemies.

..fucking nuts,
or Carole Baskin or PETA

crawl this fence and try and hurt
any of my animals again,

you can guaran-goddamn-tee I'll
put a cap in your ass the first time

to make you squirm
around on the ground,

and then I'll put a bullet right
between your fucking eyes.

# Cos it's a big forty acres

# And if you're not careful... #

A short-lived musical career
would also be an opportunity

to antagonise the woman he saw
as his nemesis, Carole Baskin.

# ..No bones, no remains

# But that won't change the fact

# That Don sure ain't
coming back... #

Glossy and over the top,

one of his videos enacted a
conspiracy theory

about Carole and her
missing husband, Don Lewis.

The surprisingly strong vocal
performance

was later revealed not to be by Joe.

Did y'all come all the way
over from the UK?

Yeah. We've been talking to
a few different people...

Many of Joe's show business efforts
involved him doing magic

using the name Cody Ryan.

The performances were billed
as fundraisers for the park,

and, in the early days,
involved a young illusionist

who still calls himself
Johnny Magic.

That is in Oklahoma City.

So, this would have been
February-ish 2003.

We've been doing this
for about a month now, together.

Each of us have been performing
for over six years,

and all of the proceeds of our show

go to help the animals
at the animal park.

Whoa.

Is that you? Yeah.

This was actually one of the first
times I went out to the park.

So, you would
have been in your teens.

I was just turned 19
about that time.

So, how long were you
associated with Joe?

Probably about eight months.
Were you living there?

Yes, I was living
in the trailers out back.

THEY LAUGH

That's quite sweet, in a funny way.

It looks like
he's really having fun.

Yeah.

The Joe I met, Joe Schreibvogel,

was not this over-the-top
push-it-in-your-face...

He was more shy.

How did it happen
that you finally left?

I mean, what was that decision like?

Started going by Joe Exotic -
in those eight months...

..I saw the power, money and ego
go to his head.

You have hundreds
of people coming up

and saying, "Hey, you did a great
job, great show, we enjoyed it.

"Thanks for doing what you're doing
for the animals."

Suddenly, Joe's getting
all this recognition,

all this recognition of,
"Hey, that's great, that's great."

I think between that building up
of the ego

and then the constant cash flow,

and, you know, this is pre the
little square card-readers,

this is mainly $10,000 cash
a weekend.

Suddenly you're looking
at a minimum of $40,000 a month

that he was getting
into the animal park.

And then Joe would start to buy
extravagant gifts for people,

like a brand-new truck
or a four-wheeler.

And knowing that Joe didn't
have this money, you're like,

"Hmm, I know we just raised $16,000
this last weekend,

"and he goes out and buys two
new four-wheelers for these people."

Who was he buying four-wheelers for?

The one person I remember he bought
a truck and a four-wheeler for

was John Finlay. Mm-hm.
I know he bought it for him.

And then there was other people

that, you know, he was either
flirting with or whatnot

that he bought things for that.

That was another thing, is that
when a cat was...

We were told a cat...
by other crew members of the park,

"Joe got rid of that cat because
we can't afford to feed that cat."

How can we not afford
to feed all these animals?

We're bringing in, at minimum,
40,000 a month.

He gets rid of them at the drop
of a hat,

while he could have sold
the jewellery, sold the truck,

sold all these nice things
that he was buying.

And that's where I was like,
"I've got to get out of here."

The high price of Joe's lifestyle
and his need for money

fed into Joe's conflict with Carole.

We can prove she's cost us $10.6
million in the last three years.

Carole? Yeah.

So our lawsuit
will be for 15 million.

What's the... What's the good news?

I'm going to win. Oh!
LAUGHTER

As time went on, the dispute
would play out in lawsuits.

How can you not lose? Yeah.

This whole box is full of nothing
but letters she's wrote my clients.

Harassment letters. Yeah.

Hang in there a little bit, guys,
and we'll all be driving Maseratis

compliments of Carole Baskin.

LAUGHTER

OK, senor? I'll get you
your own plane

to go to Honduras
and pick up ladies.

LAUGHTER

So, you're filing
a lawsuit for lost earnings

to the tune of $15 million? Yes.

Because of cancelled performances
of your magic show

and your animal road show. Yes.

And visits to the park, too? Yep.

Slander, defamation of character.

The whole nine yards.

She's already got a suit against me.

For what?

For that trademark
infringement thing!

Because you called your road show...

Big Cat Rescue Entertainment Group.

And her outfit is called...?
Big Cat Rescue.

Did it not occur to you
that those were quite close

when you named the show?

There's five other places
called Big Cat Rescue. Who cares?

You have a beef with her,

so did you slightly do it
to piss her off? No.

Not at all!

Not at all.

Didn't even think about it.

She'll fight you.

I'm sure she'll fight me.

But there ain't no way she's going
to win in front of a jury.

NEWS REPORT: An Oklahoma man
who goes by the name Joe Exotic

has agreed to pay a Florida animal
sanctuary nearly $1 million

to resolve a trademark
infringement lawsuit

filed more than two years ago
in federal court.

Well, she got her large judgment
that she got against us...

Joe did not win his legal case.

In a local news report,
he spun his loss as a positive.

Declaring bankruptcy,

he said he saw his
financial collapse

as the launchpad for a new career.

I have signed a movie contract,

I have signed
several magazine deals,

and I'm going Hollywood,

thanks to all the harassment
and publicity.

I could never have marketed myself

the way that the animal rights
people marketed me,

and my television producers
and my PR firm

all say the same thing.

It doesn't matter how bad somebody
hates you,

if you're on TV
or if you're in a magazine,

they're going to watch it,
they're going to buy it,

just to see
what the hell you're up to.

By 2016, Joe had still not paid
Howard and Carole

the million-dollar judgment.

That year, he transferred
control of his park to a new friend

to keep it out of the hands
of the Baskins,

while continuing to work there and
hanging on to a few of his animals.

Joe's friend was a high-rolling
exotic animal owner named Jeff Lowe.

Lowe announced his arrival on the
scene during a mediation session

intended to resolve
the financial issues

between Joe and the Baskins.

It was around this time, while
working at the park under Jeff,

that Joe began plotting
Carole's murder.

Do you have a sense of when
this went into high gear,

and what was behind that?

In November of 2017,

I'm sitting at my desk,
the phone rings, I pick it up

and a voice says,
"Howard, this is..."

or, "Mr Baskin, this is
the Fish and Wildlife Service

"and the FBI," at which point
I'm thinking, "What did I do?!"

And they said, "Look, we don't want
to worry you or upset you,

"but we want you to be advised
that we have information

"that Joe is actively trying to hire
someone to kill Carole.

"We are on it,
we're monitoring it,

"but we want you
to take precautions."

Meantime, day after day,
we're waiting for them

to finally get enough on him
to feel like they could arrest him.

Joe's case went to trial
in March 2019.

He was charged with two counts
of murder for hire

involving two different hit men.

In undercover recordings,

jurors heard a zoo worker called
Allen Glover,

who Joe had paid $3,000
to kill Carole.

I sat through the trial
and, like, I wanted to bawl,

because stuff was coming out,
like, hard-fact evidence of stuff,

and I didn't want to believe it.

I have the transcripts of all that.
Do you?

Yeah. We might take a look at that?
Yeah, that's fine.

I've got 'em over here in this box.

This one is... It'll tell
you whose transcript it is.

John Finlay's. Joe's husband.

"Who asked you to take Mr Glover
to Dallas?"

Allen Glover was the guy
who was allegedly the hit man.

Yeah. I was there for Allen's
testimony, too.

It says, "Mr Schreibvogel."
That's Joe Exotic. Mm-hm.

And then it says,

"Did you learn why you were
taking Mr Glover to Dallas?"

"Yes." "What did he tell you?"

"He called me and he was hesitant
of what to tell me.

"Then he told me I was taking Allen
down there to get a fake ID

"so he could go take care
of Carole."

And then Allen says
that he took the cash

and then started driving to Florida

and he spent all of his money on
drugs and booze when he got there!

And couldn't make it any further.
Allen Glover? Yeah.

After Joe's first plan
to kill Carole failed,

he reached out to another hit man
who, unknown to him,

was an undercover FBI agent.

Joe talked in detail
about how much he would pay

and the best way to do it.

Joe was also charged with
the unlawful shooting of five tigers

in his possession, allegedly to make
room for a travelling circus

that had offered to pay him $5,000
to board their animals.

I think it's been said by friends
of Joe that he shot the tigers

because they were infirm.

No. You don't think so?

No, because I have seen the pictures

of the bones they dug up,
and the studies -

and that's one thing
no-one has made a big deal about.

It was said in the trial

that there was nothing wrong
with those cats.

After just three hours
of deliberation,

the jury convicted Joe
on all counts.

It was noted that Joe had been
largely without supporters at trial.

Alone in jail, he blamed his legal
woes on Jeff Lowe,

saying his old friend had set him up

as a way of getting final control
of the park.

Password. Er, the usual one.

Joe's sense of abandonment
comes across in a recording

used in evidence of a phone call

with the man who'd once told me
he loved everything about Joe -

his ex-husband, John Finlay.

She wanted to shut down his zoo,

and he wanted her gone.

When Tiger King launched
on Netflix in March 2020,

its surreal,
larger-than-life depiction

of the world of big cat owners

quickly made it
a cultural phenomenon

He's a completely insane,
gay, gun-toting

drug addict fanatic.

Arriving at the height of lockdown,

its compulsive storytelling
provided a much-needed diversion.

The well-known zoo owner
was taken into custody.

He could be looking at
nearly 80 years in prison.

The series' jaw-dropping
twists and turns

left many sharing Joe's view
that had been set up

and that the real villains
of the piece

were Jeff Lowe and Carole Baskin.

Our mission is to ban
the private possession

of these magnificent animals.

Episode three aired theories

that Carole might have murdered
her ex-husband Don.

It's why we haven't spoken out.

Because you're afraid
of Carole Baskin?

Oh, yes, I am.

I am.

Several other faces familiar to me
also appeared,

including a shirtless John Finlay.

I was Joe's right-hand man
for 16 years.

I don't know what I would
go to prison for.

By the time the title appeared
on the final episode,

the news was reporting
that fans of the series

had taken social media by storm.

REPORTER: Stars like Jared Leto
posting pictures

dressed up like Joe Exotic,

and Cardi B wants to free
the Tiger King.

Amid all the adulation
and Tiger King mania,

a small minority raised concern
about some aspects of the series.

Why did you convict Joe Exotic?

One internet streaming channel

interviewed a juror at Joe's trial.

The documentary, or docu-series,

is really not even close
to what we saw in court.

It makes the jury look
like we were incompetent

and that we convicted him
on basically nothing,

when it wasn't like that at all.

The dissenting voices
were proving no obstacle

to Tiger King's world domination.

A second series was
said to be in the works,

and members of the cast were now
in high demand

for interviews, live shows
and spin-off projects.

Without realising it, I'd wandered
into something very different

to my normal documentary terrain.

I got an e-mail with a letter
attachment, which is from a law firm

acting on behalf of the producers
of Tiger King, the TV series.

It says, "Dear Mr Theroux,
we write in connection

"with the proposed documentary
project for BBC Two

"about Joseph Maldonado,
AKA Joe Exotic.

"It's come to our client's attention

"that Mindhouse has recently
approached Josh Dial, Eric Love,

"John Reinke,
James Garretson, Tim Stark,

"Joseph Maldonado..." -
that's Joe Exotic -

"..Dillon Passage Maldonado..." -
that's his latest husband -

"..and Kelci Saffery.

"We are writing to point
out that the participation

"of any of these individuals
in your programme

"would violate their
exclusive agreements with RGP

"and put you in the position
of being liable

"for tortious interference
with contract."

I don't know what that is,
but it doesn't sound good.

"Tortious interference
can create liability

"for possibly millions
of dollars in punitive damages."

It's annoying, is what it is.

You know, we didn't know about any
of this until the letter arrived.

No-one we'd contacted

had said that they were under
an exclusive relationship.

There was no question it was a bump
in the road.

Having been invited back by Joe,

I now found he'd signed something

making it legally impossible
for me to contact him.

Also off limits was Eric Love,
the Texas private investigator

behind the campaign
for Joe's pardon.

President Trump,
please pardon Joe Exotic.

Hi, we're here
for Francisco Hernandez.

However, on the bright side,
Eric's two partners on the project,

lawyers Francisco Hernandez
and Jeff Hoover,

had not signed contracts
with the Tiger King producers,

meaning I could speak to them.

They had agreed to meet me

to explain why they were so keen
to see Joe freed.

Hi. How are you?

Thank you for doing this.
You're welcome.

So, basically, as I understand it,

you weren't part of his defence
counsel at trial.

That's correct, isn't it? He had a
different defender. Correct.

How did you become involved
in this whole thing?

Well, we became involved
when Eric Love,

who I'd befriended a couple
of years before, came to me

and asked if I were
interested in jumping on a case

that he had just gotten hired on.

So, he came in and asked me
if I'd watched the show,

and, of course, who hasn't?

And, so, then I volunteered
to get on the case.

We get on the case,
what, was it around April, Eric?

He's standing right behind you.
Yeah.

At this point, Eric Love
had entered the room,

putting me in a delicate
legal situation.

This is Eric Love right here.

Now, before you film him, Jack,
we've been advised by our lawyers

that I think Eric signed something
that made them nervous.

I know these two guys are,
but I think we were advised

that you were in
an exclusive arrangement.

Hang on, Jack. I don't
think we've... I don't think...

I'd like to film you.

I just don't know if we're going
to get in legal hot water.

I wasn't entirely certain,
but I had a bad feeling

that tortious interference
might be looming into view.

"I acknowledge and agree
that I shall not participate

"nor grant any rights to my likeness

"in connection with any other
documentary projects

"based on substantive and creative
concepts of storylines

"of the programme,

"including Joe Exotic,
based on themes of big cats."

Maybe that is exclusive.

You know what?
I think we'll leave it for now.

Let's focus on the matter at hand.

What's going to happen? Do you think
you're going to get a pardon?

I expect a pardon, or a commutation.

It is before the President, front
and centre, with his main advisers.

They're very aware
of who Joe Exotic is, very aware.

Joe was convicted because the people
that he put his trust in

and all of his confidence
turned on him, set him up -

it was a set-up.
Not to put him in prison -

I guarantee you Jeff Lowe never
thought Joe would end up in prison.

He just wanted control of the...
rip off the zoo from him.

Carole Baskin never
would have thought

that he would go to prison
for 22 years.

Joe was convicted at trial, right?
Correct.

Some of the evidence was extremely
persuasive, I would submit,

and they had him on tape, right?

Persuasive as to what?

Talking about an intent
to kill Carole Baskin.

OK. If you're going to kill
somebody, you don't talk about it.

OK? If you really want to hire
somebody to kill somebody,

you don't talk about, you don't
put it on the internet. No.

So, you're saying
that even though he said that,

he didn't really mean it?

Yeah.

You know, I can say,
"I'm going to kill the President,

"I'm going to kill the President!"

If I don't take any affirmative
steps to go kill the President,

it's not a murder for hire,

or it's not an intent
to kill the President.

I mean, Joe was someone
who clearly, I would argue...

..wanted to see Carole Baskin
dead, right?

You know,
if she'd fallen under a bus,

he would have been dancing
in the street, right?

He loathed her... He loathed her.

..and dedicated hours,
days, weeks...

Yeah. ..to indicating to the world
how much he hated her,

how happy he would be

if only she was dead.
Because she was such a hypocrite.

She was doing what she was
criticising Joe of doing.

The key detail in the terms
of the difference

between what Carole Baskin does at
her facility and what Joe was doing

is her whole mission
was to stop breeding

in America, right, of tigers,

and Joe's...and Joe was
the opposite.

He was breeding as many
as possible. He was.

I mean, if you really go back and
look, who do people think was evil?

Even if you take those
statements as true,

Carole was evil.

Everybody believes,
with zero evidence,

that Carole Baskin
killed her husband.

Everybody believes beyond a
reasonable doubt that Carole Baskin

killed her husband in 1997,
just by the way she speaks.

She reeks deception.

Joe just reeks naiveness.

But I think that's why
so many people

that watched the TV show
support Joe.

Because of seeing her on TV,

seeing the way she was speaking,
seeing the things she was saying,

everybody's like,
"That woman's lying."

Whatever its legal merits,

and though it mainly seemed
to be the side effect of a TV show,

Joe's campaign for a pardon

was being viewed as having
a real chance of success.

Carole Baskin will never
recover from this,

she's the most
hated woman on Earth.

Meanwhile, Joe's former friend,
Jeff Lowe,

gave crowing interviews
from what had once been Joe's zoo

about the outcome of the case
and the series.

She deserves it.

She deserves
every bit of criticism,

and this is better
than her dying.

You know, everybody said,
"Don't you want her dead?"

I wouldn't miss her if she died,

but I'd rather see her suffer
through this same shit

that she put everybody else through.

Jeff Lowe's reign at the park
proved short lived.

Scant months after this interview,

in the latest twist of
the long-running legal drama,

the courts forced the transfer
of the park to the Baskins.

LINE RINGS

VOICEMAIL: You've reached the
cellphone of Howard Baskin.

Please leave a message

and I'll call you back
as soon as I can. Thank you.

Hi, Howard, it's Louis,
Louis Theroux, calling.

We're just a few minutes away
from the park,

so we will see you there shortly.

Bye-bye.

Nine years since
I'd last been there,

I was returning to Joe's zoo
to meet Carole and Howard.

The site of the tiger breeding
they'd fought so hard to end

and where the plotting of Carole's
murder had taken place

was now in the hands of the Baskins.

They're already there, waiting.

You guys like to be punctual,
don't you?

Sir, do you have your tickets?
LOUIS LAUGHS

Did you buy them online,
your tickets?

Let me open the gate.

You can drive in. OK!

Here we are!
Nice to see you, Carole.

How are you? I'm good. How are you?

I'm good. Shall we head in?

You're probably a better tour guide
to this place than I would be.

Wow. I'm told that these were all
tigers on this side,

and that those were bears.
Yeah, I think they would have been.

In fact, I've been in that cage.

Oh, really?! Yeah.

What's going on here?

There's a bear and a... And a tiger.

Look at that. Can you see that?
They're kind of cuddling.

That's what we promote here,
is love, no matter who you are.

Love for Carole Baskin?
JOE LAUGHS

Come on in.

RADIO CHIRPS

Are you calling me?

ON RADIO: Did you say you wanted me
to holler at you

when I'm getting
the tigers out again?

Who would have written that,
do you think?

I'm guessing somebody
in Jeff Lowe's crew.

Is there much of that?
There's a lot of that.

A lot of that,

that's really disgusting.

Did you understand that one?

I did the samba in
Dancing With The Stars... Ah!

..and I did it very badly!

It was my last dance. It was so bad.

This was all the pens that were
storage, you know,

where they used
to keep the surplus tigers.

So, some of them would be,
you know, 20 years in there.

It's just so sad.

This was the office, I think.

Weird that...this isn't from Joe,

this is from Jeff Lowe
and his team, right?

What's their reason
for holding so much animosity?

Well, we took the property and got
a court order that he had to leave.

So, you know,
we're not his best friend.

The whole property was trashed.

Very intentional.

Were there any animals
when you took the place?

Yes. There were three tigers,
11 wolves and two bears.

Where did they go?

They went to a sanctuary
in Colorado.

Oof... Yeah.
That's a bone, isn't it?

I have the feeling there's
a lot of bones in this pile.

Weird.

Have you been into Joe's house?

It's just full of garbage.

For real? Yeah.

With an uneasy feeling
of trespassing,

I was entering the wreckage of what
I had once known as Joe's home.

I think this was his bedroom.

Yikes.

And, look, this is where they kept
the tiger cubs, Carole.

What a godawful nursery.

Oh, my gosh,
and there are dick pics

down here on the floor
that you may want, as well!

Are you serious?
I'm looking down at my feet!

Yeah, right there.

Oh, my goodness.

That is the reproductive organ
of the male of the human species.

In a state of arousal.

I mean, it takes a bit of work
for a place to look this bad.

Do you feel animosity
towards him, Carole?

I don't. You know, I hate
what these people do to the animals,

but I don't hold that against them.

Jeff Lowe has denied vandalising
Joe's park.

Either way, the sight of
the desolation and the graffiti

had put me in mind of the allegation

that Carole had murdered
her husband, Don.

A millionaire businessman
and amateur aviator,

he disappeared in 1997,

two months after applying for a
restraining order against Carole.

Don's children continue to think
she was involved.

I was aware that for both her
and Howard,

it was, understandably,
a sensitive subject.

I guess I want to invite you

to say what you would like
to say about that.

One of the things that was most
charming about Don

was that he was this
charismatic daredevil,

and he was always
doing crazy things.

But by 1997, it seemed
like things were getting crazier.

The things that he was doing
were crazier.

I mean, he was somebody
who was flying without a licence,

and crashed three planes.

The psychiatrist diagnosed him
as being bipolar

and having altered mental status,

and he was getting
extremely paranoid,

and it was at that time that
he filed the restraining order.

A restraining order against you.
Against me.

Let me ask you a question, Louis.

If you sincerely believed
that your spouse was out to kill you

and you went downtown to get
a restraining order,

and they said, "No, this isn't good
enough," you have two choices.

You can go home and sleep
in the same bed with the person

who you think is going to kill you,

or you can go to a hotel, call your
lawyer and say, "I want a divorce."

What's your pick?

So, you're making the point that Don
continued to live with Carole.

Correct? Was it a happy marriage?

I adored Don.

We had been together from the time
that I was 19 years old.

So, I mean, for 11 years,
he was the centre of my universe.

He was crazy, even at his best,

but it was part of what I loved
about him.

When you first met him,

you were wandering the streets
in Tampa, right,

having had a really bad...
Let me just ask...

I mean, we talked about doing
a little of this, giving an example.

You could do a whole hour
documentary

on all the stuff about Don,

and I don't want to sit here
and talk for an hour about Don.

Can we go to what else
you want to do?

Sure. I appreciate it.

You feel like you've said
what you wanted to say?

I think... People often ask me,
"What do you think happened to him?"

And I had so many theories
at the time,

but I think the thing that makes
the most sense

is that he crashed an experimental
or an ultralight out over the Gulf,

because if it was anything else,

I think we would have found
him by now.

You OK, Howard?

Yep. He's protective.

He is. He's got his steely side.

So, what else would you like
to accomplish today?

Well, there's a greater story here,
which is to do with, I suppose,

the way in which you were caught
up in a kind of media tsunami,

which was this phenomenon
of this TV series. Right?

I mean, are there any reflections
you could make about that?

In every other case where we had
worked with documentary-makers,

they were truthful and were trying
to do something for animals,

so when they said they
wanted to expose the bad guys,

we believed them.

In the days...or a couple of weeks
before the release,

when I realised Don was going to be
a subject of the thing,

I asked Rebecca, "Well, how do you
think people are going to view

"what you've done with Don?
How is it portrayed?"

And her answer was, "I think
they'll be scratching their heads."

Well, nobody's scratching
their heads.

Most people came away convinced
that Carole killed Don.

But, you know, in my view,
what they did wasn't just unethical,

it was outright cruel.

RECORDING: You're a fuckin'
murderer, Carole.

Ship out or we will shut you down.

RECORDING: I want you
to shove it up your fucking ass

and go to jail
for killing your husband.

I want to go to your house
and murder you.

RECORDING: Just getting started,
bitch.

Just getting started.

RECORDING: Fuck you, Carole Baskin.

When I catch you, I'm going to put
a bullet between your fucking eyes.

RECORDING: I hope you fucking die...
How much of this do we need?

..you fucking filthy bitch.

I think maybe we've got enough.

I mean, you get the idea
from that couple of minutes.

When we got through watching
Tiger King,

my phone rang every two minutes
for the next three months,

around the clock, and it was people
screaming obscenities

and death threats
and all kinds of things.

Of the various protagonists
in the Tiger King drama,

the ones I knew least about
were its directors,

Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin.

We wanted to do a piece that looked
at the efficacy

of keeping wild animals in cages.
We never...

Interviewed from their homes
for a YouTube show,

they gave an insight into their
approach when making the series.

You know, we were always
very honest about our intentions,

and, of course, who would
have guessed that the story

would have, you know,
gone where it had gone?

It took a life of its own.

So, the closest that Eric Goode
and Rebecca Chaiklin have come

to addressing any of the questions
around Tiger King

comes in this article
in Hollywood Reporter.

Eric Goode says, "We knew
we didn't want to make a film

"that was strictly advocacy,
and that was depressing.

"I think the most important thing

"is that we wanted people
to see this series."

"Slate ran an opinion piece
which argued that you gave

"Carole the 'villain edit'

"while being more sympathetic
to the male figures in Tiger King,

"that essentially the series had a
misogynistic take on its subjects.

"How do you respond to that?"

Chaiklin:
"It's categorically untrue.

"I think what we did was we allowed
people to speak for themselves

"and, unfortunately, the court of
public opinion is not always kind."

In the background to the debate
around Tiger King

was the latest twist
that its follow-up was being made

with its star now world famous
but behind bars.

As part of their
legal correspondence with me,

the lawyers for
the Tiger King producers

had sent a copy of the contract
they've drawn up with Joe.

"Two cases have been redacted

"to remove access to confidential
financial terms.

"Owners shall be entitled to
receive..." Redacted.

"Owner's services..." That's Joe.

"..all of which shall be a work
made for hire for producer..."

That's Eric Goode and co.

Now, what is this?
So, that's an excerpt from a letter

from a legal team retained
by the Tiger King production.

They refer to him as more or less
an employee,

or that they're retaining
his services for hire.

Do you know how much Joe's
making on all of this?

I have an idea.

I'm not at liberty to disclose it.
Six figures?

Seven figures? I can't. I can't.

I can't disclose
anything related to that.

In theory, it could be more
than a million?

I... I-I-I can't even...
I can't comment.

I can't comment whether even higher
or lower, or even warm. I cannot.

Would it be unethical to receive
that money?

To receive money from him signing
the rights to his story?

No. Why would it be unethical?

You know, they're securing
their footage.

They're securing the rights.

You know, they got
a tiger by the tail.

How do they control the tiger now,

except being overly aggressive
and trying to elbow everybody out?

You have to. You'd be doing the
same thing, too, wouldn't you?

What's your biggest hit,
BBC's biggest hit?

Do you mean drama or a documentary?

You know, I don't know.
Let's say drama. Either one.

I mean, Doctor Who? OK, Doctor Who.

Somebody starts doing a documentary
or anything Doctor Who,

are you going to try
to protect your rights?

Yeah, but Joe's not Doctor Who.

He's... Doctor Who's...
He might be bigger than Doctor Who.

He might be, but he's not
a fictional character.

That's the bizarre nature of this,

because when you first start
watching it,

you can't believe that
this is actually true.

So, is it a documentary?

Is it a docu-drama, is it fiction?

Is it reality TV?

I think it's a mixture.

As vast and confusing as the Tiger
King phenomenon had now become,

it was also true that its producers

were just the latest and biggest
of a long line of film-makers

who had passed through Joe's park,
amplifying his voice,

of whom I had been one.

OK. One to Zac.

All the big cats in lockdown?

Joe's life played out in public
in a series of media collaborations.

Get back!

Ripping a day-old cub
from its mother for Korean TV...

Hey, I got it. I got it.

..undercover footage shot
by an animal welfare group...

Sit down.

TIGER SNARLS

..Joe showboating as he prepares
to shoot a sick horse

on camera in 2013.

I am perfectly sane,

but do not cross me.

GUNSHOT

This footage, which we have chosen
to obscure, Joe ran unedited.

Watching it all back, there appears
to be a growing indifference

to the suffering of animals,

but it's just as possible
that Joe was always Joe...

..just with more cameras around.

Oh, my word.

I wondered whether the wreckage
of Joe's house

might contain clues
to his life and story.

A mausoleum of Joe's dreams,

it contained documents
and newspaper cuttings

stretching back to the
earliest years of his life...

..his brief stint as a police chief
of Eastvale, Texas...

..of our wedding...

..first marriage to a man named
Brian Rhyne, who had died...

..mementos of his brother
and business partner, Garold Wayne,

who was killed at 36
after a car crash

and in whose memory
the park was founded.

If Tiger King is the most widely
known version of Joe's life story,

a more intimate account emerges
in a handwritten letter

sent by Joe from prison
to a journalist

and passed on to me
by his lawyer, Francisco.

In it, he attempts to reclaim
his family history.

June 5th 2020.

So, he's in jail -

and right at the top,
the first sentence...

"While growing up with my family,
I spent most of my childhood

"on a farm in Garden City, Kansas.

"To watch your dad, mum,
oldest brother

"fist-fighting and hitting
each other with chairs.

"Growing up,
Dad was a very mean man,

"and anything that went wrong
was your fault.

"Now, I ain't saying
I never done nothing wrong,

"but the physical and mental abuse

"was something that I carry
with me to this day."

They moved to Wyoming.

"Me and Garold spent most
of our teenage years

"riding horses in the mountains.

"That's where my love
for weird animals came in."

They moved down to Texas.
Dad was raising race horses.

Garold got married.

Then he moves to Arlington, Texas.
"Me and Garold went into business

"and I met and married Brian Rhyne."

Then...Garold has a car crash.

"My brother was my hero.

"When we had the pet store,
people gave me a hard time,

"so he painted the pole of the sign
the colour of the gay flag

"and said, 'Fuck 'em.
You're my brother,

" 'and if they don't like it,
they can deal with me.'

"Not very many memories worth
keeping as a child,

"because most are horrible
but ingrained in my memory for ever,

"like being molested
by my oldest brother

"at about five years old in the
bathroom of our old farmhouse."

Joe's relationships
with his two brothers

lies at the heart
of his personal story.

It was after the beloved
Garold's car crash

that his parents had received
a $250,000 insurance pay-out,

giving the money to Joe
to buy the land for his zoo.

Yari is Joe's estranged
oldest brother.

He has stayed far away from anything
to do with Joe's park

or the Tiger King phenomenon.

He lives with his wife Wendy
in a remote corner of Texas

close to the Louisiana border.

They've never spoken about Joe
on TV before,

but they had agreed to meet.

BIRDS HONK

Did I?

How are you doing?

WOMAN: I'm OK. How are you?

Good.
How do you pronounce your name?

You want the first name
or the last name?

Why don't we do both?

I'm Yari. Yari. Yari Schreibvogel.

Unfortunately.

That's an embarrassing name
right now.

HE CHUCKLES

Shall we go in? What do you think?
We can go in.

Oh, it's nice in here.

Is that Joe?

That's Garold. That's Garold!

And that's you. Yeah.

That's you - that's Joe.

No, that's Garold.

There's no pictures of Joe in here.

Oh, really? They're burnt.
I got rid of them all.

So, that's your little area
for Garold.

Yeah. You were really close.

That's just what I had left of him.

How about you ask me
what you want to know,

and I'll tell you what I know?

Why don't we start at the beginning?

So, you are Joe's oldest brother.

Oldest brother.

But he comes through that gate,
I'm planting him.

What is that in plain English?

That means taking the pair of you
in the woods.

You mean if Joe came
on this property?

I hate that little son of a bitch.

Do you? Yes.

It was a tough upbringing.

Your parents were quite hard,
from what I hear. Yeah.

He said that if you misbehaved, you
have to kneel with your arms out...

With your arms out like that.
Like that? Yes.

On concrete.
On concrete. Stress positions.

And if your arms dipped,
you were hit with...a slat? Yeah.

I guess that's the way my dad
got brought up,

so that's the way we got brought up.

Was there love? I guess.

HE CHUCKLES

I gave his mom a hug one time.
Told her I loved her -

but she didn't know what to do.
But that ain't what made Joe Joe.

Greed make Joe what Joe is.

Have you read much of the coverage
of what Joe's upbringing was like,

how he's described his childhood?

Actually, I ain't even seen
any of the shows or nothing.

Or articles? No. No.

So, one of the things he said
is that he was sexually assaulted

when he was five. Oh, he made that
up. Oh, here we go again.

We didn't even know
where kids came from

till we were in high school.
Someone in his home, he said.

First he said it was Dad,

then he blamed Yari. He's a liar.

And then he blamed some other person
that we don't know who.

It's just another deal to
make everybody feel sorry for Joe.

Let's see, if he was five,
I would have been ten.

I mean, you don't even know
that kind of stuff

when you're living in the country
at ten years old.

So, you were estranged
from your parents, right?

Where did that come from?

How far back...?
I hadn't talked to my mom...

When she died, I hadn't talked to
her in five or six years. Yeah.

Joe used Garold's death
to get what he wanted.

Joe told his mom, "Well, Garold
wanted to open up an exotic park,"

which is bull.

Joe convinced your parents

that the best way of honouring
Garold's memory...? Yeah.

See, we were going to build
a soccer field.

He was the coach of one of the boys'
teams and they played soccer.

I mean, they played sports.

And so we all decided that that
would be a really good thing to do,

but then the next thing we know,

Joe's got this dang park,

and the soccer field
is thrown out the window.

So, Joe was able to manipulate Mom
and Dad...after Garold passed away.

He was really good
at manipulating them.

Really good.

He said this a few times,

he was the one who turned
off the life-support machine.

Oh, bullshit! Yeah, I don't think
he done that either.

I think that's all bullshit, too,

because it's actually...
Garold was married to Lois.

His wife. Actually, she's the one
that has to sign the paperwork,

you know, and then he comes
in with these psychics

and they were just doing stuff
with their hands over his body.

Of course, my parents,
they're vulnerable,

so they believed it.

They were grabbing at everything
they could grab at,

and Joe had them believing

that them two girls was going
to make him better.

Joe told his mom and dad that the
psychics could not heal Garold

because of Yari and his bad vibes.

So they told him he had to leave
the hospital,

so he wasn't even allowed to be with
his brother when he passed away.

And if that's not something
to show the real Joe,

I don't know what is. No.

He done some ugly stuff
to get what he wanted.

How do you explain
the fact of his appeal?

He's a damn... Like a cult leader.

He can make you believe anything.

He said that one time, when we all
wouldn't back him up on that park,

that if he ever went down, he was
going to take everybody with him.

A narcissist. I mean, he fits
the category to a T.

They can say something to you and
then ten minutes later,

"What are you talking about?
I never said that."

And you're like, "Yes. You..."
And then they make you think

that you're just dreaming
that they said it.

It's not really that he had
a control over you,

but it was more like a mind game
that he played with people.

Maybe we should talk
a little bit about GW, as well.

OK. You were brothers,
but also good friends.

He was probably my best friend.

Died at the age of 32.

But I made my brother a promise
that we would do this in his memory.

So I can't stop...or I'm a failure.

And I'm not a failure.

Are you getting sad,
thinking about your brother?

I get chills every time
I think about my brother.

But my brother's here.

He watches out over us.

When I look back at this
footage now,

even with everything I've learned,

Joe's emotion still strikes me
as sincere,

and it may be that his apparent
belief in his own myths

helps to explain Joe's power
to persuade others.

If I ever went broke...

..I think I would euthanise
everything

rather than put them
in another facility

with the same financial stress.

Do you really mean that?

Yeah.

1,400 animals? Yeah.

I don't think you're being serious.

I don't think you know me very well.

That's kind of a Jim Jones.

If I go out,

I'm going to go out blaming
the people that caused us to go out.

Do you think... I was thinking...

My last encounter with Joe
came on the final day

of our third filming trip
at the park.

By now, he'd grown tired
of my questioning

and had been avoiding me
for several days.

In re-watching the unaired material,

I noticed a strange tension
and nervousness

in how I behaved at the time.

OK, clock's running, guys.
It's hot out here.

I'm not honestly sure
and I don't want...

I'm not honestly sure
that you're correct

about the wild completely
disappearing.

I mean, it may be that
through the efforts

of environmental groups,
these habitats...

I mean, they do still exist, and
they could be saved. Very little.

In the last three years,
we went from 5,000 tigers

to 3,000 tigers.

Where do you see "saved"
out of that?

Are you OK?

What are you getting upset about?

You're.. Every question
in the last day-and-a-half

has been back to animal rights
bullshit.

It's nothing to do
with the GW Exotic Animal Park.

We are breeding animals.
Do I feel comfortable with it?

Fuck, yes, I do.

Are my animals happy?

Hell, yes, they are.

End of story.

Good enough?

That was great.

So...I'm done.

My animals are happy,
I love them all.

I don't make shit off of them.

Actually, I paid $120,000
last year to be here.

So...

You, PETA, Tippi Hedren,
Carole Baskin,

the Humane Society of the United
States, can all go fuck yourselves.

Good enough?

Can we talk about this? Huh?

Not on camera. I'm done.

Anything else, Gavin?

Talk to me, Joe.

You know, the fact that these
questions are getting asked,

it doesn't mean... It just means
that they get aired.

You wouldn't ask them on camera

if they didn't have the intention
of putting them on air.

Can we be buds again?
We can be, you know?

If you're going to do an animal
rights story,

do an animal rights story.

Don't come in and pretend

to do a "we care about
the GW Animal Park"

and then turn that around
and put me on TV

asking me about, "Do my animals
really like being in cages?"

Isn't that all part of it?

No, it's not. Isn't that...
That's a part of the whole thing.

It has nothing to do with GW,
or why we're here.

Providing the animals
with a good life.

Yeah, but, you know,
how many of your questions

have went from providing animals
a good life,

to do I feel guilty about breeding
more animals

and putting them in cages
for the rest of their life?

I think we got it. Got it?!

Can I have a hug?

You can have a hug!

You know, and I don't even care
about the questions you ask,

but don't edit it down, you know?

"Can I have a hug?"

I don't often do that.

It's quite weird.

I think I was like...

I felt like there was a part of me
that liked him

and was inclined to need to feel
reassured that he was OK.

Does that make sense?

Before they run me out of business,
I'll guarantee you these animals

aren't going to be
the only thing euthanised.

Yeah!

You got that on camera.

This is still America.
We're still allowed to bear arms.

By God, I ain't scared easy.

Anybody that come in here
want to disrupt...

..what's going on here - you betcha.

I don't think you really want
to put that out there.

I don't really care.

HE LAUGHS

Clear enough?

I don't really know what conclusion
you draw from that.

I mean...

Except that part of his MO was...

It's not even an MO.

Part of his ability to influence
people and to recruit people

was through his own
unpredictability,

but more than that,
a kind of fragility

that meant that if you were
in his orbit,

you were constantly tiptoeing around

and attempting to placate him
or, in different ways,

keep him together.

And all the stuff where he's like,

"I'm going to euthanise
more than just the animals,"

and, "I'm going to euthanise
my animals

"because I'm not going to let
anyone else do it," and...

I mean, we've heard it quite a bit
while we've been out here,

but that's a cult-like... It's quite
explicitly a cult-like attitude.

But it is odd to see...

...how much I seemed to...
kind of somewhat like him.

Towards the end of Trump's term,

the idea that Joe might receive
a pardon from the President

became something like
an international obsession.

On Trump's last day,
a limo was on standby

to whisk Joe away
when his pardon came through.

It never came.

Joe's failure to secure his release

led to a fresh round of trolling
of Carole Baskin.

From inside his prison cell,

Joe was showing signs
of disillusionment

with the people who'd done
so much for his fame -

the Tiger King producers -

complaining that his contracts
were preventing him

from telling his story
and being freed.

Joe's sentence of 22 years is,
by coincidence,

around the life expectancy
of a tiger in a cage...

..but, in being confined, Joe
appears to have secured his legacy

in a way he might
never have imagined.

The young man who dreamed of fame
has been transfigured by captivity

and now, on streaming platforms
and social media,

he travels the digital ether.

As for his surviving animals,
they, too, are confined -

at sanctuaries and roadside zoos
around the US,

utterly oblivious to
their new-found fame.