Right now, as the entire country is stuck inside, the one thing that is keeping people distracted is “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.” The series is number one on Netflix and has been there almost since it first came out on March 20. Memes about the show have been posted all over social media. The most popular memes include one of the characters feeding her husband to the tigers (which will be discussed later), and her catchphrase, “Hey, all you cool cats and kittens.” It presents so many twists and turns that it is hardly explainable, but here is a run-down. 

 “Tiger King” is a true-crime documentary about the rivalry of two big cat keepers, Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin. Joseph Allen Maldonado, better known as Joe Exotic, is one of the most interesting characters that TV has seen. He can do it all: he is a polygamous gay man, zoo-owner, presidential candidate and of course, a convicted felon. 

Exotic is the former owner of G.W. Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, where he bred and housed hundreds of big cats such as tigers, lions, monkeys and bears. He also had his own reality show, “Joe Exotic TV,” where he shows the insides of the cages and stands in front of a green screen talking about whatever he has on his mind. One of his opening phrases, “I’m Joe Exotic, otherwise known as the Tiger King, the gay, gun-carrying red-neck with a mullet,” pretty much sums him up. 

During his career, he also ran for president (twice). Featured on the show “Last Week Tonight,” was a compilation of facts about Exotic from one of his campaign videos, in which he said, “I’m not changing the way I dress, I refuse to wear a suit…I am gay…I am broke as s***, I have a judgment against me from some b**** down there in Florida…” He sounds like the perfect person to run the country, right? 

Exotic also attracted colorful characters to work for him, one of whom had his arm ripped nearly off by one of the zoo’s tigers. Kelci “Saff” Saffery returned to work only five days after it was surgically amputated. John Reinke, who worked as the park’s manager for almost a decade, lost both of his legs during a zip-line accident. Hired to produce Joe’s reality TV series, Rick Kirkham was a former “Inside Edition” reporter and recovering drug-addict. The staff also included former head zookeeper Erik Cowie, who witnessed the darker activities within the zoo, including illegal cub breeding and selling, as well as the killing of five tigers after they reached adult-size.  

Unfortunately, Exotic’s love for the animals soon turned into a money-making scheme, which is where Baskin comes in, with her animal rights lobbying. Baskin is almost as fascinating, as she wears tiger-print clothing from head-to-toe and probably murdered her husband. The rumor is that her late millionaire husband, Don Lewis, was planning on divorcing her, which would have left her with nothing, not even the cats. Lewis disappeared and his case went cold, leaving many to speculate whether she fed Lewis to the tigers. In one clip from “Tiger King,” in which a tiger was harassing Joe’s shoe that apparently had cologne on it, Baskin stated that if a person wanted a tiger to kill someone, “you would put sardine oil on them, not perfume.” There is a lot of evidence that points to her as a suspect, yet the world may never know what exactly happened to Lewis. 

Since Baskin is the owner of Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit animal sanctuary in Florida, as well as an animal-rights activist, Exotic had a lot of hate towards her. He mentioned her several times on his reality show, calling her out for both potentially feeding her husband to the tigers and being a hypocrite. Back in the 1990s, Baskin actually bred big cats herself, which is what she would bash Exotic for. Also, Baskin has also gained recognition as a phony, as she profits from caging the “rescued” cats, despite her organization being labeled a non-profit. 

At one point, during the height of their feud, when Baskin was suing Exotic for copywriting a picture she had posted, Joe became bankrupt. The picture included Baskin’s workers holding dead and bloody rabbits that were intended for the tigers. Baskin dragged out the lawsuit, pressuring Exotic to shut down his zoo. He was even struggling to pay for the food to feed the animals, even though most of the meat was already coming from Walmart donations. This is where Jeff Lowe came into the picture, who promised to save Exotic’s zoo from closing. After Lowe took over the zoo, he quickly went from being Exotic’s friend and business partner to an enemy. 

“I didn’t know the mansion was rented, and I didn’t know he was behind on Ferrari payments and as soon as he got the zoo in his name, the evil side of Jeff and [his wife] Lauren came out,” said Exotic. 

Later on, Lowe became a police informant in the investigation into Exotic’s murder-for-hire plot against Baskin. Exotic was found guilty of trying to hire someone. Allen Glover, who was actually working at the zoo, to kill Baskin in 2017. Initially, he paid Glover $3,000, with a promise to pay thousands more after she was dead. Exotic has recently been sentenced to 22 years in prison.  

Recently, Jeff Lowe announced that there will be an additional “Tiger King” episode added to Netflix, making a total of eight episodes in the series. These episodes, “Not Your Average Joe,” “Cult of Personality,” “The Secret,”  “Playing with Fire,” “Make America Exotic Again,” “The Noble Thing to Do” and finally “Dethroned” each reveal a new, deeper side to the story. Between unreeling the rivalry between Exotic and Baskin and exposing the reality of big cat captivity, the show explores a world unknown to most. 

That being said, “Tiger King” is the perfect show to fix the boredom of quarantine. Whether it is a good laugh or a twisted plot to keep the mind occupied, it could not have been released at a better time.