INSIGHT Magazine Special Home Edition April 2020 | Page 43

Fiction” to the test. The series takes you into
the world of the Shady Sub-Culture world
of Exotic Animals, roadside zoos and the
breeding and selling of these Big Cats.
The cast of real life eccentric characters has
to begin with the Tiger King himself ~ Joe
Exotic ~ the flamboyant owner of Greater
Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in rural
Oklahoma. The series follows Joe, his bitter
rival, Carole Baskin, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle
and a former drug lord Mario Tabraue – just
to name a few!
So why should you watch Tiger King?
First off: In my honest opinion there has
never been anything quite like Tiger King.
It is so “out there” it almost has the feel of a
Mockumentary. It makes you think “is this
really real?”
It is the real deal. The cameras follow Joe
Exotic an openly gay, pistol totting, mullet
wearing, magician, county music singer,
tiger breeding, private zoo keeper who has
two husbands, loves to blow stuff up with
dynamite, runs a daily online TV show and
currently resides in Jail (no Spoilers).
Joe owns over 200 Big Cats. People from all
over the world visit his zoo and take pictures
with his baby tiger cubs. So far so good,
right? Tiger King is not just about the life of
one polygamist. It dives into the dark side
of Americas’ big cat underworld; we meet
an elephant-riding zookeeper who basically
runs a cult. Every woman who joins ends up
marrying him, he controls their every move
and call him “Lord”. There is Maria Tabraue, a
former drug kingpin who it is said Al Pacino’s
character Tony Montana in Scarface was
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based, also a large collector of exotic animals.
Multiply wives, multiple husbands, suicide,
drug use, illegal exotic animal sales are all
intertwined in this “Mayhem and Madness”
but then enters the Murder…the sub plot of
an intense feud between Carol Baskin and
Joe Exotic.
Carol is a self proclaimed animal rights
activist. All the big cat keepers, it’s safe to
say, hate Carole Baskin and Joe absolutely
despises her on an obsessive level. Their
feud is the main focus of the series. Baskin
claims she wants to free the cats from a life
of cruelty, but when she takes the cats from
other keepers she basically just puts them
in her own zoo under the umbrella of being
an animal rights activist. She does not even
pay her employees – they volunteer. So, in
its own right, just another cult (which makes
3 so far…keeping up?) Carol has the upper
hand in these fights due to the almighty
dollar…which she has plenty of due to the
mysterious, unsolved death of her multi
millionaire late husband. This has been
another big discussion from Tiger King…Did
Carol kill her husband? There is motive and
she does not do the best job of convincing
you otherwise. This leads to Joe’s obsession
with bringing her down into next level
bizarre world. Making country music videos
of a Carol look alike supposedly feeding her
late husband to a Tiger. Yes, you read that
correctly.
Before, I get too far into this…I have just
one thing to say. If you are looking for a
binge watch while at home during our social
distancing…WATCH TIGER KING! ✽
https://youtu.be/acTdxsoa428
April 2020 – Special Home Edition
INSIGHT