Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for Tiger King 2 and Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story.
Tiger King 2 and Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story reveals just how dangerous Joe Exotic really is. Although both sequels fail to be as shocking and compelling as the viral first season of Tiger King – largely because of Joe Exotic’s absence – they still provide some vital insights on the real person behind the man’s public persona. From the way Joe used meth to keep his boyfriends to his unrepentant attitude in prison despite the evidence revealing that he abused animals and tried to kill fellow big cat owner Carole Baskin, all signs point to the fact that Joe Exotic is a populist cult leader who will do anything to get what he wants.
Following the success of Tiger King, Joe Exotic, who was already in prison by the time the first season was released on Netflix, earned a cult following almost overnight. While Tiger King was meant to expose how horribly Joe and other American big cat owners treat both humans and animals, it also resulted in Joe getting tons of new fan mail. Out of Tiger King’s cast of questionable characters, only Joe ended up behind bars, while the likes of Jeff Lowe and Doc Antle continue to roam free – fanning the flames of the now-mainstream #FreeJoeExotic movement. It also certainly helps that Joe Exotic is dangerously charismatic, and has an undeniable way with words. Joe’s popularity has led to calls for a presidential pardon for Joe, a slew of internet memes celebrating the man, and the public trial of Carole Baskin, echoing Joe’s claims that Carole killed her husband Don Lewis.
Tiger King’s Joe Exotic has leveraged all the allegations against him and has somehow used them to maintain a still rising cultural cult of personality. Despite revealing nothing inherently new or shocking about Joe Exotic’s case, Tiger King 2 makes it clear that Joe hasn’t changed at all, and given the chance, will likely make the same choices that he made in the first season. While the “revelations” in Tiger King 2 were largely underwhelming, they actually offer a few new interesting details about Joe’s backstory and what he’s up to now, which only confirms rather than debunks the fact that Joe is a criminal. Moreover, the dangers of Joe’s influence can be observed not just in his thousands of obsessive fans across the U.S., but more notably in the case of hired “hitman” Allen Glover, who said in Tiger King 2 that he would gladly testify and go to prison for Joe, whom Allen set up for conspiracy to commit murder.
Alarmingly, Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story, the third installment in the series, reveals that Doc Antle’s guru and primary influence was Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, the Indian spiritualist who founded the Yogaville community and opened the Woodstock Festival back in 1969. Saraswati taught Doc Antle everything he knows about manipulating people to do what he wants, leading to the cult-like culture in Doc Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari. This is important because Joe Exotic used Doc Antle’s personality and the operations of the Myrtle Beach Safari as models for developing the G.W. Zoo, which Joe used to create his own cult-like circle that’s centered around him and his exotic animals. Notably, all three of these men are facing allegations of sexual misconduct, and there’s actual evidence confirming that both Joe and Doc Antle are animal abusers. However, while Joe is the only one in prison – and for different reasons – Joe is also the only one with enough endearing fans to drown out the bad press against himself.
Tiger King 2 and Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story definitely aren’t as exciting as the original viral series. Nonetheless, the sequels do serve an important purpose: reiterating and further confirming that Joe Exotic is a dangerous man who shouldn’t be idolized or celebrated for his attention-seeking antics. In fact, as Joe’s methods for running the G.W. Zoo can be traced back to the teachings of Swami Saraswati, Joe represents a unique branch of the evolution of cult culture, powered by the natural charisma and gift of gab of a modern internet megalomaniac.