今日吃瓜

Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic of Tiger King fame, has released a new song, written and recorded during his prison sentence.

Although the song was posted to the YouTube channel JoeExoticTV on December 14 last year, the 61 year old only released it on Spotify for Valentine’s Day 2025, also sharing it last week to his , where his followers appear to be most active.

Exotic is currently is serving a prison sentence of 21 years after being found guilty of 19 counts relating to wildlife violations, and two counts relating to the hiring of hitmen to kill animal activist and fellow big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin.

Called , the song appears to be inspired by his fianc茅 Jorge Maruez Flores, with a photo of the couple accompanying the YouTube video.

The pair got engaged around October 2024, when Exotic posted about submitting a marriage application to the prison. Flores, who is also an inmate, is serving time for immigration-related offences.

Exotic has the track “the most powerful lovemaking song ever written”.

What is the truth?

It’s not the first time he’s taking a step into the music business- the 2020 Netflix documentary Tiger King featured two songs allegedly recorded by Joe Exotic, complete with music videos featuring (surprise, surprise) tigers.

However, quarantine hadn’t even ended before someone uncovered the truth. In March 2020, Vanity Fair revealed that Exotic had convinced musicians Vince Johnson聽and vocalist聽Danny Clinton to create the cat-themed tunes. Tiger King producer Rick Kirkham told the publication that everyone involved in the production knew he couldn’t sing.

鈥淥ne time,” he said. “Joe got a little bit drunk and high, and we actually coaxed him into singing part of one of the songs. He couldn鈥檛 even hold a tune. It was just so ludicrous. It was a big joke within the crew and staff that it wasn鈥檛 him [singing in the videos]鈥攂ut he was damned insistent to anyone and everyone, including us and my studio crew, that that was him.鈥�

It’s unclear who is behind this new track, but his fans have welcomed the release, with one commenting on Facebook, “the song is absolutely beautiful. It鈥檚 a wedding song! A love song! Best country that I have heard in a long time! So much love in it.”

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Joe Exotic, but he’s still keeping busy even from behind bars. A brief scan of his Instagram shows he’s appearing pretty regularly on podcasts, and he’s still trying to appeal to Donald Trump for an official pardon.

 

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