By Michael Lee Simpson and Kerri McMullen
Tiger King star Joe Exotic is in talks to make a new documentary which will “show the world the truth” after he is released from prison, he claims.
Maldonado says he is currently preparing a self-directed documentary series Return of the “Tiger King“, with producers in Los Angeles.
He claims to have six terabytes of unseen zoo footage, which he says will reveal what the original Netflix series left out.
Maldonado, who claims to be in talks with a Los Angeles producer about the documentary, said it will be released when he’s out of prison.
He was first sentenced to 22 years in federal prison in January 2020. In January 2022, a judge later reduced the term to 21 years – but could be released sooner.
Maldonado is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Fort Worth in Texas.
Joseph “Joe Exotic” Maldonado, 62, is currently serving his federal prison sentence for animal abuse and a murder-for-hire plot targeting Baskin, 64, CEO of Big Cat Rescue in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Maldonado owned G.W. Zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and rose to fame thanks to Netflix’s “Tiger King“.
The series chronicled Maldonado’s feud with Baskin while exposing the darker, chaotic world of roadside zoos.
Speaking to a reporter on the phone and via email, from prison last month, Maldonado claims the real story hasn’t been told.
“When I get out of here,” he said, “I am going to make⯒Return of the Tiger King‘.”
“We’re going to show the world the truth about everything,” he said. “Because I have it on video tape.
“How the staff at the zoo was always drunk at work. The real life rescues. Medical emergencies…How hard we really worked. The lies on Netflix. The lies at trial.”
He added: “The world is going to be shocked.”
Speaking about his appearance in the original documentary, Maldonado insists his rage at Baskin was never real.
“I don’t hate Carole,” he said. “I dislike her.
“She sued me. I sued her. She bashed me on the internet. I bashed her on the internet.”
He added: “That’s how we made money…I never hated her. That was exaggerated for TV.”
Baskin’s second husband, millionaire businessman Don Lewis, disappeared in 1997 and was declared legally dead in 2002, a case that gained notoriety through “Tiger King”, when Maldonado accused her of murder.
Baskin has always denied her involvement in Lewis’ disappearance and was never charged.
Maldonado’s animosity toward Baskin, however, has not faded with time or imprisonment.
“She’s the same batshit crazy woman she’s always been,” he said. “Killed her husband.”
He also said: “ I made money on Joe Exotictv.com convincing you she was batshit crazy and she killed her husband, because it was so easy to, I mean, you’ve got a 52-year-old woman with flowers on her head. Come on. That was, that was the easiest thing to convince people was she is batshit crazy.”
Maldonado is still adamant he believes Baskin killed Lewis.
“I know she did,” he said.
On his regrets, Maldonado speaks of Jeff Lowe, his former business partner who swooped in to save the failing G.W. Zoo around 2015, only to take ownership and allegedly betray Maldonado.
“The only thing I would change, honestly, is not let Jeff blow in my life,” he said, adding he was a “scamming piece of sh*t”.
He added: “I would not be in jail for murder for hire, and I would still have my zoo.”
