Joe Exotic, who is known by millions of Americans as the “Tiger King,” is running for president from prison.
The 60-year-old is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit murder, among other crimes. The murder charges were well-documented in the 2020 Netflix series “Tiger King.”
But jail, a fall from grace, an inability to access large exotic animals, and not even his nemesis Carole Baskin can stop the eccentric criminal from a White House bid, he signaled this week online.
Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, officially announced his candidacy in a message on his campaign website.
Maldonado-Passage acknowledged the situation with his living arrangements in the statement but asked voters to consider him next November.
“Thank you for your interest in my Campaign,” the statement said. “Yes, I know I am in Federal Prison and you might think this is a joke but it’s not. It is my Constitutional right to do this even from here.”
He continued by attacking the Department of Justice as a corrupt institution that unfairly targeted him.
“I have been put here only because of the corruption in the Department of Justice, three felons that were told how to lie under oath to further this agenda, two corrupt Assistant U.S. Attorneys, two corrupt FBI Agents and one corrupt Federal Wildlife Agent,” he said.
Maldonado-Passage, who is running as a libertarian, invoked his past behavior and lifestyle and asked people to look past it for a better America.
He also brought up Baskin, whose murder he ordered but was never carried out.
“So put aside that I am gay, that I am in prison for now, that I used drugs in the past, that I had more [than] one boyfriend at once and that Carole hates my guts,” he said.
“This all has not a thing to do with me being able to be your voice. The best thing you have going for supporting me is that I am used to fighting my whole life just to get by,” he added.
As far as policy goes, Maldonado-Passage intends to run on a message of shutting down the IRS and demanding accountability for how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars overseas.
“I am here because I have a world platform to make these politicians listen to your and my concerns and give us some answers for once because all they do is lie to all of us, take our hard earned money calling it taxes, and give it away to foreign countries without them giving us anything back,” his announcement said.
Maldonado-Passage concluded, “I am broke, they have taken everything I ever worked for away, and it’s time we take this country back.”
The 60-year-old is confined to the Federal Medical Center at Butner prison in Durham County, North Carolina, The Oklahoman reported.
The former Oklahoma zookeeper was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2021.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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