2020 hasn’t been all bad, you know. There was a time during the early days of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic where it hadn’t yet racked up a massive global death toll to become the worst pandemic since the 1911 Spanish flu. There was also a time before the riots and mass civil unrest. As a matter of fact, there was even a time when everyone was getting along fairly well and the world didn’t feel like it was going to end tomorrow. It was the time of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness.
On March 20th, Tiger King dropped on Netflix and subscribers took very little time to devour the series and turn it into a cultural phenomenon. You couldn’t talk to anyone who wasn’t eager to tell you all about the show and why you should watch it, and during that short period of time, it even broke several Netflix records.
The quirky docu-series follows big cat enthusiast and zoo owner Joe Exotic and his descent into madness. In his constant fight to keep his zoo open and his never-ending legal showdowns with his nemesis Carol Baskins, Exotic falls victim to his own narcissism and eccentricity and ultimately lands himself a 22-year prison sentence. He remains at FMC Fort Worth today.
Of course, President Donald Trump has made mention of Exotic in the past, calling him a “strange guy” and casually hinting that he could pardon him. Now, a comment made by Trump on Monday night – that he would pardon a very important person on Tuesday – left Twitter users hopeful that Exotic would, indeed, be pardoned quite soon, as you can see below:
Would anybody actually be shocked if Trump pardoned Joe Exotic? Like would that actually surprise you in 2020? pic.twitter.com/iqBJRlDkrP
— CREW Sheisty 🤐 (@ItsJayTeeGee_) August 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/ugtcrduvujklfse/status/1295723403027111940
Do I think Trump is going to pardon Joe Exotic today? pic.twitter.com/JZXYhWwAuE
— Leif Skodnick (@LeifSkodnick) August 18, 2020
me seeing people are talking about trump pardoning joe exotic pic.twitter.com/medah1nYlz
— athena ♡ (@PRIVACYWRITER) August 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/MalcomVex/status/1295686891958947841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1295686891958947841%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Ftiger-king-joe-exotic-pardon-donald-trump-netflix-trending%2F
Big congratulations to Joe Exotic. https://t.co/BG4vTJQzDW
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) August 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/Woman_on_Pause/status/1295712693660385281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1295712693660385281%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Ftiger-king-joe-exotic-pardon-donald-trump-netflix-trending%2F
Joe Exotic, come on down, you're speaking at the Republican National Convention. https://t.co/eOG8PGgj1t
— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/VivaBoxiana/status/1295708668428726272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1295708668428726272%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Ftiger-king-joe-exotic-pardon-donald-trump-netflix-trending%2F
I see Joe exotic trending on the timeline…does that mean he’s the guy that trump’s gonna pardon 🤭 pic.twitter.com/QPvU7hBhq4
— Hammad (@HammadInfinity) August 18, 2020
All animals when Joe Exotic get pardoned… pic.twitter.com/q68d6Qlebz
— First Brokage (@bmthreezy) August 18, 2020
Unfortunately for Joe Exotic and Tiger King fans, Trump announced today that he’ll actually be posthumously pardoning women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony. For now, then, it appears that the big cat lover will remain behind bars to serve his full sentence.