(The Hill) – Joe Exotic from “Tiger King” is once again expressing his disappointment with President Trump. Exotic is upset over the decision to pardon reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley for their fraud and tax evasion convictions, while Exotic himself received no such clemency.
“You are either rich and connected or you’re poor and being trafficked by the system,” stated Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, in a series of posts uploaded to his Instagram account on Tuesday, criticizing the pardons.
“I guess being innocent is not enough in America,” he remarked in another post shared on social platform X. “They all admitted to perjury on world television, yet I’m left to die of cancer before I can get any help.”
He added in separate X post, “I don’t have a million dollars but I would give it if I could get out to work.”
In other posts on both platforms, the 61-year-old “Tiger King” star insisted he is innocent, claiming he “did not hurt anyone” and “did not pay anyone.”
Maldonado’s criticism comes after Trump pardoned the stars of “Chrisley Knows Best,” a reality series that lasted from 2014 until 2023. The couple was convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion charges in 2022.
The ex-zoo owner has been serving a 22-year federal prison sentence since 2020 for his role in a murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin, who also appeared in the Netflix documentary series. A federal judge resentenced Exotic to 21 years in prison in 2022.
He has been calling for a pardon from Trump since the president’s first term in office. He also pressed former President Joe Biden to offer him clemency while he was in office.
Maldonado has made a point to voice his displeasure almost every time a new pardon is announced. In January, he criticized the president and his predecessor after the former president granted pardons to some members of his family and Trump granted clemency to roughly 1,500 rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the [Capitol] … or even have been related to the Bidens. I might have gotten some relief on being in prison innocent,” he said at the time.
