We live in a disclaimer society. You are no longer allowed to say that you like something, without first listing all the reasons why you know you're not supposed to like it. If you haven't seen Tiger King then you must be eighty years old. No other explanations will be excused. Our antihero of the story, Joe Exotic, is larger than life itself. He's a piece of shit who killed tigers, and yeah the whole murder for hire thing isn't a great look even if Carole Baskin did kill her husband. There I said it. Now, I love Joe Exotic and think he's fucking hilarious.
This is how imagine the conversation went from the sellers of the documentary.
"Hey you wanna see my documentary?"
"Hi I'm Netflix what's it about?"
"It's about a gay polygamist who owns a tiger zoo, tries to murder his adversary, runs for office, and ultimately ends up in prison after his straight husband accidentally kills himself."
"Fuck you. What comic book is this from?"
"No it really happened."
"What does he look like?"
"Kind of gangly. He wears strictly cheetah print and has a blonde mullet with brown Triple H facial hair."
"Gtfo. What does he do for fun?"
"He shoots at and blows up a doll version of the lady who's suing him."
"Get out. Is there drugs?"
"Well not really but it's heavily implied they're all doing them. Plus we got the guy that was based on Scarface."
"Oh.....kay. Is that his only occupation? Tiger keeper?"
"Glad you asked. No, actually. He's thinks he's a country music star. Even though he doesn't write or even sing any of his songs. He just records the music videos."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"What about other characters? Is it just him?"
"Oh heavens no. There's his two straight husbands, his employee who lost their arm to a tiger, his employee who lost his legs unrelated to tigers, an occultist tiger version of the Crocodile Hunter, a douchebag entrepreneur who wears a durag underneath his hat, and Al Davis' long lost son who rats everyone out in the end on his jet ski."
"Please sign here."
Joe Exotic very well may be the last American folk hero. His mannerisms, his behavior, his life would not be believable if there wasn't hours of footage on it. It's an American tradition to root for our folk icons, despite their immoral and rash past. Take Billy The Kid for example. The first man Billy ever killed was an unarmed blacksmith. Totally illegal, even by old West standards. That guy has his own museums. Joe Exotic is the last of a dying breed.
Stop trying to make me feel bad for laughing at something that's so obviously funny. If someone can find humor in an otherwise dark situation, that doesn't make them a bad person. Just because you wrote an article about how you don't like the Tiger King doesn't make you a good person.
To the morally superior crying about everyone glorying Joe Exotic, just shut up. Tweeting "Free Joe Exotic" is a guarantee for getting likes on Twitter, that's it. No one who knows this man solely from the documentary is actually losing sleep about him being in jail. Leave your complaints in the box if you must, but they won't be read. If you want to play hero, go get Michael Rapaport. He's also a known cat killer, but he's still on the loose.
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