It goes without saying that Netflix’s doco-series Tiger King has captured the world’s attention for how cooked every depicted fact is, as well as all the subsequent bombshells – like the Britney Spears and Michael Jackson connections – that have dropped since the show aired.
But as twisted and messed up as the seven-episode run of Tiger King is, it could’ve been much longer based on all the cooked facts the producers cut out because it just didn’t quite fit the narrative (or are perhaps saving for a potential season 2).
Speaking of ‘Tiger King’, the GOAT team talk about Netflix’s wild doco-series on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Here are just some of the crazy facts about Tiger King that were left on the Netflix cutting room floor, most of which would’ve made great episodes all on their own.
Joe Exotic’s dubious music career
When Joe Exotic wasn’t an attention-seeking big cat owner, he was an aspiring country musician who put out 28 songs across two albums and *checks notes* 16 music videos. The warped “song to music video” ratio aside, it was a fascinating little side plot that deserved extra time.
According to the directors of Tiger King (via The Los Angeles Times), Joe sang on some of the songs but definitely not all (most of it was by an outfit called the Clinton Johnson Band) and it was a nightmare trying to figure it all out that they decided to cut the story short.
That’s a shame. Maybe season 2 of Tiger King can dig into Joe Exotic’s turn as a country musician.
Jeff Lowe trying to get Shaquille O’Neal to throw money into a new tiger park
Jeff Lowe is one of Tiger King‘s seediest characters and his plotline ends on a cliffhanger where he is seen trying to convince Shaquille O’Neal to invest in a new tiger park.
Shaq’s appearance alone was crazy enough but getting him onboard for a tiger park? That’s pure gold that Tiger King unfortunately stopped digging for.
Since Tiger King‘s airing, Shaquille O’Neal has said he didn’t know Joe Exotic or what was happening at the zoos, but that sounds a bit suss given his known affinity of big cats and past encounters with Joe. Lost opportunity to dig further right here.
Carole Baskin’s personal life with her boyfriends and husbands is even messier than depicted
Episode three of Tiger King focused on Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin and the insane trainwreck that went on with her ex-husbands. But as crazy as the stuff we saw with the unexplained disappearance of Don Lewis, there’s more to the story.
Robert Moor reports that after Don’s disappearance but before Howard became husband no. 2, Carole had another boyfriend who ended up filing a restraining order against her because he was afraid for his life. Sounds familiar.
Given how unhappy Carole Baskin was with Tiger King‘s portrayal of her and her husbands, a hypothetical season 2 would probably tip her over the edge. Go on, Netflix, you know you wanna.
More Joe Exotic craziness
Joe Exotic’s life as depicted in Tiger King had more twists and turns than the tango, but there were a bunch of details cut out that would’ve easily fit another episode or three, such as:
- Joe telling everyone he was dying of cancer and pleading fans to donate money for his expenses (he just had an infected prostate and a scorching case of herpes)
- Joe’s first straight husband before John, Travis and Dillon
- Extra background into Travis Maldonado’s tragic life
- Joe shooting horses donated to him and using them as food for his tigers
- Joe and Jeff Lowe’s plan to open a bisexual strip club/petting zoo called “Tigers and Dreams” (for real)
At the time of writing, the story of Joe Exotic is still ongoing so we may well get a season 2 of Tiger King to follow up on all the craziness that’s already unfolded. Fingers crossed for that to happen.
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