President Donald Trump’s clemency list was released by the White House this morning and Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix's Tiger King, did not make the cut.
With just hours to go until President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, President Trump signed off on the pardons of 76 people, including rapper Lil Wayne and Steve Bannon, the former Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President. He also commuted the sentences of 70 others, including a large number of non-violent offenders with drug charges.
Despite much speculation that Exotic would receive clemency, his name was nowhere to be found on the lengthy list.
The Netflix star, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence on two counts of murder-for-hire and numerous counts of animal cruelty, voiced his hopes yesterday to be pardoned by his political idol on Twitter.
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Received from Joe at 1:00 pm TX time:As I sit here and pray waiting that I am on that list, I ask my group of Angels to please help God guide this to happen. I am going to help so many children fix their faces and stand up for those with no voice. God will be proud. pic.twitter.com/dLm93HHEKWJanuary 19, 2021
“As I sit here and pray waiting that I am on that list, I ask my group of Angels to please help God guide this to happen,” he tweeted.
“I am going to help so many children fix their faces and stand up for those with no voice. God will be proud.”
Exotic, who owned a large wildlife park in Oklahoma, was convicted in April 2019 of endangering animals and plotting to kill animal rights activist and rival Carole Baskin.
Exotic voted for President Trump in the 2016 election, after briefly running for president himself. In 2020, President Trump hinted at the possibility of a pardon for the disgraced zoo lord, telling a reporter, “I’ll take a look.”
A reporter just asked if Trump would pardon Joe Exotic from Tiger King and Trump said, "I will take a look." pic.twitter.com/f0c0R8QmDyApril 8, 2020
Exotic’s legal team, named ‘Team Tiger,’ was so confident of a pardon that they even hired a limo to collect their client from prison. With hopes of an early release now dashed, the reality TV star will remain behind bars. His attorneys have said that he will ‘likely die in prison’ due to his deteriorating health and advancing age.
