Joe Exotic remains disgruntled over not being pardoned by President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday (January 21), one day after the presidential inauguration, Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado, expressed his frustrations with still being behind bars on a 22-year sentence for animal cruelty and attempted murder of rival Carole Baskin. In 2022, Exotic was resentenced to 21 years by a federal judge, and the Tiger King star has since sought pardons from Trump and former president Joe Biden. As of January 2025, Exotic has a scheduled release date in 2036.
"If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the capital or even have been related to the Bidens," Exotic wrote as the caption of an Instagram post shared to his account. "I might have gotten some relief on being in prison innocent. Hell the guy who killed 2 FBI Agents even got a pardon today. I can't even get a new trial based on admitted perjury testimony."
Exotic has long sought Trump's attention regarding his hopes of being pardoned, and in 2020, he told the New York Post that he'd "take a look" into the case.
Exotic also shared a post in which he questioned why Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical advisor, received a pardon but not the Tiger King. "Trump, please sign clemency #C308172 and freedom for Joe Exotic the Tiger King so he can go back to doing good in the world," reads a caption under the post.
Shortly after taking office for a second term, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 individuals who were prosecuted for the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, calling the sentences "ridiculous and excessive."
"They’ve served years in jail," Trump told reporters. "They should not have served, and they’ve served years in jail. And murderers don’t even go to jail in this country."
He continued, "We pardoned people that were treated unbelievably poorly."