Tiger King 1x5

1. Holy mackerel. Yes, ma'am.

2. I'm ready. I don't want to cut y'all short.

3. You guys are ready... for the party. Get the chimp, and I'll walk right in.

4. I don't even know what a chimp birthday party is.

5. Yes you do. It's exactly a five-year-old's birthday party.

6. It's got crappy little decorations we bought at a store,

7. and it has chimps who are going to be hilaritly happy about it,

8. and if you got too close, they're gonna tear your fingers off.

9. Oh, look at them! They look fucking fabulous.

10. They look fucking fabulous. Scoot closer to Gina.

11. Our social media these days is just in the millions a week.

12. Millions of people a week are following it.

13. - How do you do that? - Our content is so unique.

14. No one's got the content unless it came from us these days.

15. Make noise.

16. Where's the other one?

17. Don't let them bite it.

18. Easy. Don't bite. Don't bite. Hit it. Hit it.

19. It wasn't the zoo anymore.

20. It was nothing but a big scam.

21. Paws will come out of that.

22. Jeff conned everyone.

23. Because he's jealous. He's a little man with a little dick...

24. and a limp, and he's bald,

25. and he's got to pay everybody to have sex with him.

26. This man has got more criminal shit going on than you can imagine.

27. Well, sooner or later he's going to jail.

28. From the time Jeff came into the picture,

29. the whole dynamic of the park changed.

30. Joe only cared about one man's opinion,

31. and that man didn't do anything on park.

32. He didn't clean cages.

33. He didn't do book work.

34. He didn't check in customers.

35. He didn't feed cats.

36. Nothing.

37. Jeff somehow seduced Joe by hook and crook.

38. Joe fell in love with the premise.

39. Joe handed over the keys to the kingdom

40. to prevent Carole from taking the keys to the kingdom,

41. and then through that,

42. Jeff proceeded to try and circumvent Joe's opportunity authority

43. and separate him from his wealth. In my opinion.

44. Everybody was loyal to Joe when we got here...

45. and I think they kinda were skeptical

46. that these two people were gonna come in here and make things better.

47. Jeff Lowe fired half the staff when he walked through the door,

48. called a couple of them "fucking faggots"

49. and stirred up a bunch of shit.

50. I had a guy who worked for me for years,

51. a great guy. I called him when we moved here,

52. and we couldn't find anybody good around locally.

53. I said, "Allen, what would you think about moving out here?"

54. I said, "I'll give you a place to stay

55. and you just take care of the park. Be a handyman for me."

56. When I first got to the zoo, I didn't know anything about the zoo.

57. I don't think I've ever really been to one, so...

58. Jeff said, "I'll give you money and a place to live and whatnot,"

59. so I was like, "I'll take him up on his offer."

60. Allen was kind of a transient all of his life.

61. Great worker and very, very loyal.

62. Let it down.

63. I went to prison when I just turned 18.

64. Did my time for that.

65. I've had many other encounters with the police,

66. but... moving on with life.

67. - Let's go. - I've got the primate kennel.

68. We were doing okay the first year,

69. and we made some improvements

70. that Joe didn't have the resources to make.

71. I wanted to operate a family zoo, a nice zoo...

72. but they required a lot of money.

73. So, we met this guy named James Garretson

74. through Joe, who I trusted.

75. He had some pretty lucrative strip clubs

76. and restaurants and bars.

77. Done a little of everything. I've been in the bar business.

78. I ran strip clubs. Worked in the circus.

79. You name it, I've done it.

80. I got into cats when I was about 17.

81. Bought a lion cub out of the Dallas morning newspaper.

82. Been around them ever since.

83. I've known Joe a span of about 20 years.

84. Not great friends with him, but friendly.

85. He introduced me to a gentleman named Jeff Lowe,

86. and then that's when me and Jeff became friendly,

87. and then Jeff talked me into giving him $14,000 to open a pizza restaurant.

88. You can sit down on the patio

89. right next to real-life tigers,

90. and you can have some of the best pizza

91. that I make from scratch.

92. And that's a Joe Exotic promise.

93. He used the Walmart donation program

94. to lower the food cost.

95. They have the best pizza here.

96. Do you think most of the meat was from Walmart?

97. Yeah.

98. Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

99. Joe was always trying to be bigger than what he was, you know,

100. and that's just how Joe does business.

101. Joe told me several times.

102. He says... "People don't come to see the tigers. They come to see me."

103. Joe was the entertainment director...

104. by title.

105. Even though Jeff was the owner of the park,

106. Joe was the star of the show.

107. Jeff was the star of his show,

108. so which one was gonna rule this world?

109. Joe Exotic is how many people know him.

110. He mailed off this form to the federal election commission last Friday,

111. announcing his intent to run for president as an independent.

112. Mic check. Check, check, check.

113. Whenever you're ready.

114. Brr!

115. Hello, America. Let's see, fuck this.

116. Hello, ladies and gentlemen of America.

117. Let's try that again.

118. Hey, can you shut that off for a minute!

119. When he said he was gonna run, for president, it about floored me.

120. I said, "Holy crap, man."

121. "I got a chance. I got a chance." He actually thought he had a chance.

122. He didn't have a chance. He ain't got a chance in hell.

123. Joe Exotic for the people of America. How was that?

124. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

125. are among the most disliked presidential candidates in history.

126. And... and luckily, there are a great many third-party options out there.

127. There's independent write-in candidate Joe Exotic,

128. who claims to run the world's largest private zoo for tigers

129. and produces incredible campaign videos.

130. I'm not changing the way I dress.

131. I refuse to wear a suit.

132. I am gay.

133. I am broke as shit.

134. I have a judgment against me from some bitch down there in Florida.

135. And this is all paid for by the committee of Joe Exotic Speaks for America.

136. - Wow.

137. Just wow.

138. Joe Exotic is truly the candidate

139. you'd want to sit down and have a beer with,

140. then another beer, and then several more beers

141. until you're drunk enough to try meth for the first time.

142. Whenever that clip went to John Oliver,

143. Joe got a big head.

144. Even though they were making fun of him,

145. Joe... was the star.

146. Everybody was adding him on Facebook and stuff,

147. so he thought he was a celebrity from that point on.

148. Is America ready for the first redneck,

149. gun-toting, mullet-sporting, tiger-tackling, gay polygamist president?

150. You know, I think they are.

151. I'm outspoken, good-looking.

152. Mm-hmm.

153. - I love to party and have fun. - Hello.

154. - Let's go blow some shit up. - Blow some shit up?

155. Anybody that wants to threaten an American citizen

156. - by cutting their head off... - Yeah?

157. deserves this kind of treatment.

158. We're getting a good look at your national defense program.

159. When he's ready, Travis.

160. - Ahh!

161. Whoo!

162. That's how we take care of ISIS right there, buddy.

163. - Dude, that went right through me.

164. I was Joe's campaign manager for about a year and half.

165. Uh, it was the worst experience of my life.

166. It was horrible. Horrible, horrible.

167. I'd like to introduce my friend today.

168. Joe Exotic for president was 100%

169. a complete and total publicity stunt.

170. It was all about outrage. Get as much views as possible.

171. I'm as gay as a three-dollar bill,

172. and I'm standing in a cage with five full grown tigers and lions, and I...

173. When that fell apart... he decides to run for governor.

174. Next best thing.

175. I think his exact words were,

176. "I couldn't wait another four years, so I decided to run for governor."

177. When I got the job offer to work for Joe,

178. I was like, "You know, what's the job?"

179. He said campaign manager, and I was like, "Holy shit,

180. that's my dream job. I'm going to take it.

181. I don't care what he is."

182. And I already knew he was bat shit crazy from our conversations at Walmart.

183. I was a manager at Walmart at the time,

184. and I worked at the ammo section,

185. and he'd come in and buy bullets, you know, like, every day damn near.

186. Tannerite, which is something you can shoot and it explodes.

187. I'm using nothing more than what I can buy legally

188. over the counter at any gun shop.

189. I know a lot more than he knew about politics,

190. and that was my main value to him.

191. Primary elections are next month...

192. Joe Exotic for governor, he thought he was going to win.

193. could become our state's next governor.

194. What did people think of Joe running for governor?

195. - Locally? - Yeah.

196. It was a source of entertainment.

197. You are a political anomaly,

198. and on Twitter, you know, you're not afraid to respond to viewers

199. with expletives.

200. Guess what, motherfucker, even the day is...

201. When people are running for any election,

202. there's a lot of glad-handing, there's a lot of baby kissing.

203. Joe passed out condoms with his face on them.

204. Political condoms.

205. Vote for me, or you need this 'cause you're screwed.

206. And of course, if you put it to social media, the comments are endless.

207. Probably got more hits talking about him

208. than really than content of everyone else who was running.

209. It's more entertainment.

210. What are you doing?

211. - Watch it. - We had nothing to...

212. Watch your back.

213. What a wild interview!

214. This is one of my stranger interviews.

215. Joe was running for governor of Oklahoma as a Libertarian.

216. Joe Maldonado aka Joe Exotic.

217. He had no idea what a Libertarian is.

218. He still has no idea what a Libertarian is.

219. I'd like to introduce my wife,

220. but my husband's at home feeding my brand-new baby kangaroo.

221. Always wanted to say that.

222. Our eventual platform was my platform,

223. and that was less government, less spending, less bills.

224. There's two laws that they're introducing into Congress this year to try and pass.

225. One of them's the Big Cat Safety Act.

226. The only problem is it's all a fraud.

227. Just spending millions trying to decide

228. whether or not I should own a fucking tiger or not?

229. This is my way of living

230. and nobody's gonna tell me any other way.

231. The only people who opposed the Big Cat Public Safety Act

232. are those who are breeding these cubs and using them as pay-to-play props.

233. This is a sweeping federal bill.

234. It will cover all of those states,

235. and nobody will be allowed to be keeping these big cats as pets any longer,

236. or breeding them, or using them as pay-to-play props.

237. You want to know how come

238. these people can get everything that they want introduced into law?

239. Carole Baskin and Howard Baskin spend most of their time and money...

240. sucking ass to the politicians.

241. They wanna take it all away from us.

242. This seems entirely un-American, entirely unconstitutional to me.

243. Doc Antle brought exotic cats into the halls of Congress,

244. because if you can get somebody to sit down and pet a cheetah

245. and have their picture made, then when I come in there

246. and say, "This is really cruel, and that's why it's cruel,"

247. they've already done it,

248. so they're like, "Well, if I say this is cruel,

249. people are gonna say I'm a hypocrite."

250. And so, our opponents are really smart

251. in the way that they get out there ahead of us

252. in a way that we just can't.

253. I mean, we're not gonna take wild animals into public buildings to make our point.

254. Watch this ride, Johnny!

255. Here's your bumper sticker.

256. I'm running for governor.

257. Put a bumper sticker on the horse

258. and let's keep the animal rights people out of Oklahoma.

259. Want a free shirt?

260. We're gonna change this state.

261. It's time that somebody as broke as me and you get in there.

262. Joe, he had a lot of charisma.

263. Uh, anyone that I could get him in front of, we had their vote.

264. Do you still have the exotic farm?

265. Yep, yep. Up to 227 tigers.

266. I got 22 coming in on Sunday.

267. - It's huge. - I have to see it.

268. It is huge. Do!

269. - Pleasure seeing you. - Good seeing you.

270. I'll give it to her. I'll give it to her.

271. Joe thought that his political aspirations

272. would lead to more business at the park,

273. which it didn't, you know, of course.

274. It actually— I think it hurt us more than anything else.

275. And he had signs up on the gift shop, he was gonna run for president in 2020.

276. And I made him take those down. I said, "You know what?

277. The park isn't gonna fund your political campaign,

278. and I think it's time to focus back on the animals."

279. Just get the front on them, is all we need first.

280. You guys lift.

281. - Don't jam it. - Drop back.

282. Joe turned into a little bitch

283. and started griping and complaining about Allen every fucking day.

284. When I first met Joe...

285. things were all right, I guess,

286. and then it turned like to shit quick.

287. Joe would ask him to do something, and if Allen thought it was stupid,

288. he'd say, "Fuck you, Joe. I don't work for you. I work for Jeff."

289. So Joe calls me up. "Allen was telling me..."

290. Well I said, "Well, technically he does work for me.

291. He doesn't work for you."

292. I think Joe thought that I put Allen here as a plant

293. to report back to me what was going on.

294. Tell them if I have to come in there one more time

295. and tell 'em to answer that radio, they're going home.

296. Goldilocks bitch.

297. Allen calls me and says, "I'm cutting some trees down today

298. and Joe's behind me."

299. He says, "Is it okay if I dropped a chainsaw on him?"

300. Allen wanted to take Joe out. He hated him that much.

301. Fucking...

302. Unimaginable, man, he was hateful.

303. Communication! Stay alive!

304. Call you names over the radio.

305. It did— Not just me. Anybody.

306. God damn, girl. Feed the goddamn animals!

307. Never in my life ever put up with anything like that.

308. And I've worked for quite a few people.

309. He tops it off.

310. Ready?

311. There was just a lot of burned bridges, man.

312. You got sound?

313. The fucking staff tried to get me killed in a cage.

314. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to video message number 113.

315. They put cologne on my shoes.

316. We heard that Joe was

317. out in the arena while he was filming one of his stupid campaign videos.

318. And this cat was sniffing his shoes and sniffing his shoes.

319. Okay, well first of all,

320. you haven't recognized the rest of us 40 people

321. that are running.

322. She was just fascinated by his shoes that day.

323. And the list goes on. Ow, son of a bitch!

324. God damn you!

325. Here's all these people filming Joe being dragged around,

326. and nobody's going in there to rescue him.

327. Get down! Go!

328. - Get!

329. Ain't nobody help me. Nobody.

330. Get out of here, you bitch!

331. He came out with a story.

332. "Somebody put something on my shoes to get that cat to attack me."

333. I'm gonna shoot you right between the fucking eyes, bitch.

334. What scent makes a liger attack your shoe?

335. I were gonna... you know, if somebody wanted to kill you,

336. then they would put, like... sardine oil all over you.

337. Something the cat wants to eat, not something the cat wants to drool on.

338. 'Cause the perfume, that's all they want to do, is just drool all over it.

339. They're just like...

340. All of the confusion that the Carole Baskin lawsuits

341. were causing him, and all the money it was costing him...

342. Somebody like Joe just goes crazy.

343. His mood swings were significant.

344. I don't give a shit.

345. Next time you're in jail and you're homeless,

346. be sure you don't call me.

347. - You wanna see how crazy... - He didn't care who he hurt.

348. He didn't care who he stepped on.

349. Okay, don't— This is my fucking...

350. Yeah, Joe was very controlling.

351. If John Finlay went to visit his brother in Texas, or anything like that,

352. he... didn't want him to go.

353. If he went, he wanted him back the same day.

354. I don't know how much love was involved,

355. but I'm sure it was the cars that he bought John Finlay,

356. the guns he bought John Finlay,

357. the four-wheelers he bought John Finlay.

358. This gun right here, Joe bought for me.

359. I mean, I like pink camo.

360. Lot of people make fun of me for it, but you know what...

361. it's just something I like.

362. He was... showering me with gifts and stuff.

363. He bought me a truck.

364. Actually bought me, like, four or five different trucks.

365. If they wanted it, they got it.

366. I mean, all they had to do was ask,

367. and I think that's how he kept them close to him.

368. John and Travis were both 19 when they met Joe...

369. and at 19 years old, man,

370. the one thing that a 19-year-old guy wants to do is party,

371. have fun, live it up. You know, no tomorrows.

372. Travis, he didn't really work at the zoo,

373. he just rode his four-wheelers and shot his guns

374. at the lake and the river.

375. Travis was a pothead from hell, and—

376. Which— Who cares, you know,

377. that's all Travis had in his life.

378. He was trapped here in Wynnewood, a boy from Cali,

379. and Joe kept him pumped full of weed

380. to keep him from waking up and realizing this isn't a life to live.

381. I knew there was drug use going on...

382. because of statements made by John and Joe.

383. Oh, girls!

384. I've always been worried about you being a spy. Run!

385. - No, don't— Ahh!

386. I've had my days of coke.

387. I had my days of drinking.

388. I had my days of meth.

389. And this is my mother-in-law. Run!

390. One thing that meth does:

391. somehow or another it concentrates in your teeth.

392. We call it meth mouth.

393. Meth was the main one that we did.

394. It was starting to really fuck me up in the head.

395. I mean, I'm still kinda fucked up in the head from it now.

396. When Travis came around,

397. Travis would smoke his meth.

398. I guess Joe was smart enough when he walked up and seen a young boy.

399. "Hey, he's on meth.

400. Come here. I'll provide your meth.

401. I'll give you everything if you come over here and marry me."

402. You know. So I guess that's how Joe did it.

403. Travis, he would always say

404. that he wanted to go to the strip bar with us,

405. but he said Joe would freak out if he left the property.

406. I mean, he told me with his own mouth that he wasn't gay.

407. I told Joe at least three times Travis was not gay, okay?

408. Travis was banging every girl in the park,

409. and I find out later, John Finlay came out and said,

410. "Look, I gotta tell you, I'm really not gay.

411. I've been sleeping with the girl at the front desk,

412. and we're going off to get married."

413. All through school, I was dating girls.

414. From the time of kindergarten till I graduated,

415. I had a girlfriend... every time.

416. He actually slept with the secretary, Amber, there at the zoo.

417. And Joe was pretty close to Amber because she'd been around for a long time.

418. He left me for a girl,

419. and the hardest part I had in dealing with that was...

420. I can't compete with that, you know?

421. Leave me for a man and we're game on, okay?

422. But leave me for a woman, I can't compete with that.

423. Come to find out John Finlay got her pregnant, so...

424. I've seen a few fights.

425. I think the saving grace in that situation was Travis.

426. You know, Joe wasn't alone. Joe still had Travis.

427. Neither Travis nor John Finlay were gay,

428. and Joe admitted that to me.

429. Fell in love with straight guys,

430. because there's not too many gay guys in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

431. You guys edit this shit. I want you to show it to him.

432. He maybe asks me what's wrong,

433. but he only spends five seconds listening, and then he'll walk out on me.

434. Pretty fucking sad.

435. He doesn't give a fuck about any of my problems, like...

436. Is he trying to make me blow my top?

437. I don't know.

438. I don't know what he wants.

439. There are people out there.

440. They will look at a person who is in desperate, dire need of something.

441. In Travis's case, he was addicted to meth.

442. And they take that need and they fulfill it...

443. until they become the only person that can fulfill that need.

444. And in exchange,

445. that person gives them whatever sexual or any other favors they want.

446. That's the relationship Joe had with Travis.

447. - What?

448. - You know what? You know what? - What?

449. What?

450. Bad dream, baby.

451. That ain't even funny.

452. That's not even funny.

453. Travis came into the office and started complaining to me.

454. Travis was sitting underneath the camera, but it was pointing directly at me.

455. He complained that there was— That he was a prisoner,

456. that he was never allowed to leave the park.

457. He wasn't allowed to get a job.

458. All this was true, and frankly,

459. he was upset that he didn't have enough pot.

460. My last cigarette before I die.

461. He's smoking his last cigarette before he dies.

462. He'd always pointed guns at people all the time out there at the park.

463. Sometimes he'd wake you up pointing the gun at you.

464. He'd done that to me on multiple occasions.

465. So, he'd done that to me again in that office that morning

466. and said, you know, "Freeze, motherfucker,"

467. which is just what he did, and I told him,

468. "Dude, you know not to point guns,"

469. 'cause I've told him before, don't point a gun at me,

470. and he said, "Aww, man, this is a Ruger.

471. There's no clip in it. You know a Ruger won't fire without a clip."

472. I was sitting in the chair, you know, looking at him

473. when he put the gun to his head.

474. It's not like...

475. on the movies.

476. I knew he was dead the second that he pulled the trigger, but...

477. at the same time I didn't, you know?

478. I thought it was a joke,

479. because, you know, Travis was a jokester.

480. He was a prankster. He liked to play pranks on people.

481. But when I showed up at the zoo that day

482. to get some order going on,

483. Joe's passed out on the front porch, shaking.

484. Uh, the ambulance is there taking care of Joe.

485. Sheriff's department's got everything shut down.

486. I mean, you had to climb— I almost had to climb a fence

487. to get in the place to find out what was going on.

488. Garvin County officials are investigating the incident...

489. This fucking clown?

490. I— Goddamn, one of the best people. I've... know him four years, man.

491. Joy, a joy.

492. Absolute joy of life.

493. Joe is now thanking the world for the support...

494. I just kinda felt like I was attached by pain to Joe.

495. Like we had a bond of pain...

496. and I couldn't leave him, because of course I wanted to leave.

497. You know, why do I want to come back to the office every day that,

498. you know, a horrific accident happened?

499. Um, but, you know, he really loved him.

500. We're gonna try and make this

501. not a day of mourning, but a day of celebration

502. to celebrate the life of Travis Michael Maldonado.

503. We spent the last four years of our lives together.

504. I asked him every day,

505. I said, "Why me?"

506. And he said, "Because God put me here to make you smile, and that's my job."

507. And it didn't matter how stupid he had to get...

508. or if I was sittin' there concentrating as hard as I could... on the computer

509. to write a letter to a senator or a congressman

510. or something else, he'd come and rub them balls in my face.

511. Everybody that works here knows exactly what I'm talking about,

512. 'cause you've seen his balls.

513. They were like golden nuggets to that boy.

514. He has to do dramatics, you know, drama.

515. He has to do a show wherever he goes, whatever he does.

516. He was even acting there.

517. It's the worst thing ever in my whole life.

518. My son being gone.

519. I miss him greatly.

520. You know, we got married when he was 19 years old,

521. and there was 32 years difference between us.

522. Joe is a year older than me.

523. And... yeah, I thought it was very odd.

524. I don't know, I just didn't think that was right.

525. But if Travis was happy, I was gonna accept it, no matte, you know...

526. This was right before he came to Oklahoma.

527. He came to see me, and...

528. see how young he is?

529. I don't know...

530. I don't know what happened.

531. I don't know how he ended up with Joe.

532. Joe changed when Travis shot himself.

533. Joe's whole demeanor changed.

534. Come on in.

535. I do this every year, Christmas and Thanksgiving.

536. I've been cooking all night.

537. - Yes, sir. - Jesus.

538. Please, Lord, look out for those...

539. who are spending this holiday alone...

540. without their loved one...

541. and are going through the same rough time.

542. Jesus' name, Amen.

543. Amen.

544. Guys, start at this end and enjoy your meal.

545. - This is the only family I ever have. - Man, this is great. I appreciate it.

546. I am third in the polls right now out of 12.

547. - Oh, wow, that's good. - Yes.

548. I... have tried all day to hold this together.

549. The local biker clubs all came and helped me build this memorial.

550. They actually built this...

551. and it's got his four-wheeler and his go-cart, and...

552. I had a little different vision.

553. I was gonna tier step it, and then they decided

554. to do it with the rocks and concrete,

555. and I actually like the way it turned out they did it.

556. Built the signs and everything else.

557. Every morning before I open the park,

558. I sit out here with him by myself,

559. and smoke a cigarette. And...

560. people think I'm crazy,

561. but I take pictures of the sky while I'm doing it.

562. The word "hi" in clouds has floated by

563. that I've got pictures of. I've got pictures of perfect angels.

564. It was after Travis's death that Joe really completely lost it.

565. James and I would go off into the dark spots of the park

566. and talk about Joe...

567. and just how bat-shit crazy he had gotten.

568. And he was so devastated, and...

569. cried about it for forever,

570. and... he was playing this part,

571. which I think he was playing a part.

572. I think he probably had some onions in his pocket,

573. rubbed his eyes or something. It's all bullshit.

574. He wanted so much to support me

575. in my political career running for governor of the state of Oklahoma

576. because he always said, "Hon, if anybody could get the people in this state

577. to love and respect each other, it would be you.

578. I told Lauren, I said, "You know, if he wants to run this zoo,

579. we have to get away from here because I'm gonna kill this guy."

580. So, I said, "Let's go lease this spot right on Las Vegas Boulevard,

581. and we'll do this there."

582. Vegas was crazy.

583. We had the big Vegas mansion,

584. and we had the Vegas parties and we had tigers in our house.

585. He decided he wants to stay in Vegas and try and make money out there.

586. He talked a sponsor into buying a bus, and they called it the jungle bus.

587. Like a party bus with animals.

588. He could actually haul people from casino to casino

589. and let them play with cubs while they're doing it.

590. We thought it would be a good idea, but we were wrong.

591. That was a big fucking mistake.

592. All right, I got 15 minutes, so we gotta get them cats loaded,

593. and I got to change clothes.

594. He's right up the gate.

595. The white one I named Travis,

596. was born two days after Travis died.

597. Come on in.

598. I got his lamp that they made me

599. that stays on 24 hours a day, and then his ash box.

600. Gotta get the Prince Albert in there...

601. How long have you had a Prince Albert?

602. Oh, hell.

603. Eighteen years?

604. And believe it or not, them padlocks there on the side,

605. I wear those on the end of my Prince Albert.

606. You wear the padlocks on the— Oh, my god.

607. Because they don't make a ring that big.

608. First date since Travis died.

609. I'm gonna get the curls out, 'cause that's my sex appeal.

610. A jacket for the date.

611. - Excited? - What?

612. Excited?

613. - Yeah. - Cool.

614. - You ready Joe? - I'm ready.

615. Now we gotta go find where the parade is 'cause that's where I gotta—

616. that's where I gotta do the news thing real quick.

617. I met Dillon in a chat room.

618. Took me a couple days to talk him into going to dinner,

619. and, you know, you can believe what you want to believe...

620. about whether or not...

621. things are sent to you or people are sent to you or whatever,

622. but we went to dinner and he never went home.

623. Are you gonna ride— Where do you wanna ride in the parade?

624. In with the tigers?

625. - Yes. - Do you really?

626. - Yeah, that'd be cool. - Okay. Deal.

627. - I'll ride with the tigers. - All right.

628. If you're gonna ride here,

629. I need you to stand here and let them get used to you.

630. They're not gonna bite you. They're just babies, so.

631. When Travis died,

632. he didn't give a fuck about the campaign,

633. about his family, about anything.

634. All he cared about was that he find a companion,

635. and he was not satisfied until then.

636. Yeah, thanks for having me.

637. When he found Dillon, he started to bounce back.

638. His energy was just so strong, you know,

639. and like, when he proposed to me,

640. it was one of those things I couldn't think about.

641. I just had to, you know— just gonna go with the flow.

642. It was like, my whole life I've just overthank everything, you know?

643. When he proposed, I just— I said yes.

644. Two months after my son died,

645. he married Dillon.

646. Invited me to the wedding.

647. Okay, I thought it was going to be a wedding.

648. No, it was the cameraman,

649. me, and... the flower girl.

650. So on the social media...

651. "Well, Travis's mom is fine with it, so everybody else should be."

652. Then I didn't hear anything from him again.

653. He was done with me.

654. My name is Joseph Maldonado A.K.A Joe Exotic,

655. and yes, I'm running for governor of the state of Oklahoma as well.

656. I mean, not everybody gets the opportunity to see a tiger, you know,

657. especially in a parade.

658. They're not mine. I don't have to, like, raise them, do I?

659. Take these bags of snow

660. and kinda just fluff it up to where the lights glow.

661. - No, the lights glow under it. Okay? - Oh, all right.

662. Merry Christmas.

663. Let's free Oklahoma for a change.

664. Towards the end of the campaign,

665. when I felt like we were probably surging because he started listening to advice,

666. he asked, "Josh, what are we going to do if we win?"

667. Joe Exotic will make just as good a governor as we ever had.

668. He's not afraid to say what he wants to say,

669. and do what he wants to do,

670. and sorry if he steps on some toes,

671. but he does it anyway, so...

672. Well, who knows, you know?

673. I mean, I would say stranger things have happened.

674. Better mental health.

675. Let all the potheads out of jail

676. and put them crooked bastards where they belong.

677. Close to 2,000 across Oklahoma...

678. We don't have this yet.

679. Among those that they are casting votes for,

680. the next governor of Oklahoma.

681. Breaking down the numbers, Karen, let's start with you.

682. What do you see numbers-wise?

683. - Joe, what happened tonight? - What happened tonight?

684. We fucking lost.

685. You do everything against the odds!

686. I do, I do. I'm gonna jump off this fucking roof here in a minute.

687. Don't say that. We're worried about that.

688. Fuck.

689. It's been great running against you. You've done a tremendous job,

690. - and I'm glad we're friends. - We had fun.

691. - How many death threats did you get? - A couple.

692. Okay, that's the sign of a successful campaign. Trust me.

693. - A couple. Yeah. - It's fear.

694. His governor campaign,

695. I think that's where he kinda lost his path,

696. as far as what was the priority.

697. It wasn't about the animals anymore.

698. Everything was falling apart,

699. from finances to animal care to employees.

700. The passion was there, but he lost it.

701. I don't know where and how he lost it, but he lost it.

702. You could always read Joe.

703. He didn't have a poker face.

704. We knew something was going on.

705. You know, he was already a paranoid person...

706. throwing people out, accusing them of being spies and stuff.

707. But the paranoia was not unfounded.

708. We found a microphone and an antenna on top of the gift shop roof.

709. It was about that tall, you know, little metallic base with a short antenna.

710. I don't pretend to be a technical wizard,

711. but I could tell it was a listening device.

712. That's when I knew that there was something serious going on.

713. She told me, she says,

714. "I hear Joe is under some kind of federal investigation."

715. And I said, "What did you hear?"

716. And she says, "I don't know." She says,

717. "They were talking about it here one morning."

718. - And that was— Okay. - I got it...

719. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Bye.

720. - Sorry.

721. So we just interviewed Jeff Lowe and the entire time,

722. he had incoming calls from a federal agent over and over.

723. Like, who the hell still talks to Joe that would even...

724. He told me that Joe's going down,

725. Joe's— it's over for Joe.

726. Oh, my god. I can't believe...

727. I mean, it was sort of funny when they started,

728. but it's gotten really dark.