Netflix's Tiger King has folks talking. And it's not just your average, un-exotic Joe
who's utterly baffled by the show's unabashed mayhem. Celebrities have been taking to Twitter
to try and make sense of the madness.
Tiger King is so beloved that the week following its release, celebs were already fighting
for the chance to play Joe Exotic in a potential biopic. While our bets would've been placed
on David Spade, since Exotic's aesthetic is pretty much Joe Dirt in sequins and leopard
print, Dax Shepard and Edward Norton duked it out on Twitter for the coveted role. Shepard
kicked off the cat fight by writing:
"If I don't get cast as Joe Exotic in the eventual biopic, Hollywood is broken."
Norton swiftly replied,
"Um, step aside, pal. You're way too young and buff and you know it. You could probably
pull off Maldonado still, actually. Wouldn't that be fun?"
It's hard to imagine that anyone is as well-versed in crazy roles as Norton, who starred in both
Fight Club and American History X. A Tiger King biopic could be exactly what he's been
training for.
"I know I'm not a licensed critter control specialist, however I am Mitchell's best friend
and he knows I just love this kind of funky junk."
But Netflix actually seemed more into the idea of Shepard taking on the role. The streaming
service replied to the Parenthood star's tweet with, quote, "I'm liking what I'm hearing."
Sorry Norton.
"Chase me. I'm your pig."
Michael Ian Black has been laying low for the past couple of years. The last we saw
him, he had a small recurring role in the Netflix dramedy Insatiable, but it doesn't
look like he's going to be laying low for long. Tiger King has inspired the star to
consider following in Joe Exotic's footsteps, which is anything but a quiet life. He tweeted:
"Craziest thing about Tiger King is how cheap it is to buy a tiger. Two grand? I'm definitely
getting a couple tigers."
Apparently, the whole plot behind We Bought A Zoo wasn't all that expensive. Do you get
a discount if you buy in bulk?
Jared Leto better have gotten some good meditation in during his 12-day silent desert retreat,
because he's going to need it once he finishes Tiger King. While he was busy relaxing and
reflecting without the luxury of WiFi, the rest of the world was watching Tiger King's
trailer and bracing themselves for insanity. Leto was thrown right into the tiger's den
when the show premiered a couple of days after he announced that he had rejoined civilization.
And from the looks of it, he found himself a TV and queued up Tiger King without delay.
"Not again the TV.”
“Ma, ma, come on ma. Why you have to make such a big deal outta this, ma? You know you'll
get the set back in a couple of hours."
Leto has always been a fan of good cosplay, whether he's dressing up as the second coming
of Christ alongside Lana Del Ray at the Met Gala or diving deep into his film roles. This
time around, he decided to try on his best Joe Exotic and tweeted out a bunch of photos
of himself in a cowboy hat and a gold and purple Western-style button down while holding
a stuffed puma. He captioned the post "#JaredLetoTigerKing."
At this point, we wouldn't put it past Leto to dive so deep into this that he finds himself
lip syncing over country songs despite the fact that, you know, he can actually sing.
Leave it to Kim Kardashian West to be a few days late to the Tiger party. One day she's
casually explaining how her totally normal bathroom with her totally normal sink works
for those of us poor enough that our houses can't be described as "cavernous." Another
day, she's letting her six-year-old accessorize with a $10,000 Hermes Birkin Bag like it's
normal. She's the queen of understatements, and it's certainly apparent in her response
to Tiger King.
Two days after the Netflix series' premiere, the star boldly asked her 64.4 million Twitter
followers:
"Has anyone seen Tiger King on Netflix?!?! It is crazy!!!!"
To her credit, she has been stuck inside, homeschooling her four children, which she
described to Jimmy Fallon as, quote, "insanity."
"I'm like hiding from them."
Fortunately, the reality star later realized her mistake, and followed-up, saying:
"Wow the amount of texts I've gotten about Tiger King since I tweeted about it all have
mentioned their belief that Carol killed her husband! What are your thoughts? Do you think
Carol killed him?"
Actor Jerry O'Connell is in deep with Tiger King. The star threw out a hot take on one
of the show's most debated conspiracies: Did Carole Baskin kill her husband? For those
who've only waded in Tiger King's kiddy pool, Baskin's late husband, Don Lewis, mysteriously
vanished sometime in the '90s. O'Connell tweeted:
"Just tested positive for thinking Carole Baskin fed her husband to those tigers."
So, is anybody standing by him? Where's the evidence? Well, it's slim. Joe Exotic's music
video for "Here Kitty Kitty" depicts someone resembling Baskin feeding what's implied to
be human meat to a tiger. The video's description states:
"There is one way to get a message across and that is with music. Everyone loves music.
It is believed that in 1997 a [woman] in Tampa Florida killed her husband and fed him to
the Tigers in order to get all of his property and money. People Magazine even did a story
on it."
Does Exotic know something we don't? Considering Exotic was convicted of ordering multiple
hits on Baskin, which landed him his 22-year prison sentence, he's not exactly the most
reliable narrator. Baskin has also denied the claims.
"I am broke as s---, I got some judgement against me from some b---- down there in Florida."
For former Bachelor contestant Wells Adams, Tiger King had some serious implications,
and we're not talking about murder or the very real concern of animal abuse. We're talking
about the future of the nation. Sarah Hyland's fiance had the very depressing revelation
that the headline-grabbing cast are, indeed, voters. At least the ones that haven't been
convicted of felonies. Adams tweeted:
"You know what's crazy? The people in #TigerKing can totally vote. Like in elections and stuff."
About a week later, Adams seemed to be less concerned about his grave comments. The star
was fully embracing the Tiger King life, tweeting:
"Am I learning 'Here, Kitty Kitty' on the guitar whilst wearing a wig on a Sunday morning?
Yes. Yes I am."
Move over Dax Shepard, Adams is actively rehearsing.
Cardi B has been taking us along on her Tiger King journey, which is filled with flip-flopping
opinions and eye-opening revelations.
After a few false starts, the star wrote a tweet that suggests she's one of the many
Exotic stans who think Carol Baskin did, indeed, feed her murdered husband to the family pets.
As the hours crept past midnight, the rapper expressed her support for Exotic, tweeting:
"They did Joe so dirty over and over again."
About an hour later, Cardi shifted gears again, tweeting,
"Who you think is more wrong? Narcissist joe? Or Greedy Carol? And why?"
Ultimately, none of her fans could convince her to take Baskin's side. The Bodak Yellow
singer came back to her original conclusion: Exotic was treated unfairly. Though the Tiger
King is worth an estimated $10 million, Cardi considered giving him some financial support,
writing:
"Bout to start a gofundme account for Joe. He shall be free."
The tweet prompted many users to point out instances of animal abuse he allegedly perpetrated.
Wiz Khalifa was among the many celebs watching Tiger King, and he certainly used it as an
opportunity to slam the age old practice of clout chasing once again. Khalifa still seems
to have the concept on his mind after releasing his collaborative track "No Clout Chasin'"
in early 2019, and if there's anyone who has clout right now, it's Joe Exotic, the star
of the most popular TV program in the United States.
"I can almost promise you some of you will be urinated on."
Playing off the lion's share of tweets urging for Exotic's release, Khalifa tweeted:
"At tha rate we're goin a lawyer gon take joe case for the clout and really free the
tiger king"
In the run-up to Tiger King's premiere, New Zealand-based actress and singer Lucy Lawless
had her sights set on live-tweeting The Bachelorette's New Zealand spin-off. But she took a bit of
a reprieve to turn on Tiger King and check out what everyone has been talking about.
As it turns out, she's not really a fan unless she's watching it in the way you'd watch a
train wreck, in which case, we are totally guilty as well.
"It's a real life tornado and there ain't nothing you can do."
The thing about Tiger King is that almost none of the characters are particularly likable.
We have Joe Exotic, who was recently sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder-for-hire;
Carole Baskin, who some people think murdered her husband; Mario Tabraue, who allegedly
ran a $75 million drug ring and casually glossed over murder; and "Doc" Antle, who may or may
not be the leader of a cat-themed sex cult. Rather than Baskin's husband being the sole
person in the series possibly fed to the tigers, Lawless felt like it should probably just
be everyone. She wrote:
"Please God, let the tigers eat every last one of those folks. Horrible."
Hey, someone had to say it.
Meghan McCain is a woman known for her strong opinions. She wouldn't have her job on The
View if she wasn't prepared to ask tough questions, and Tiger King is absolutely brimming with
them. Like most of us, the star was left completely bewildered and confused after she watched
the Netflix doc, particularly at the pure passion of the employee who returned to work
days after his amputation.
"I have literally LIMITLESS questions, opinions and observations about #TigerKingNetflix and
the cast of characters/conspiracy theories/people who get their arms bitten off but return to
work. Also are all exotic animal people this...bizarre? I have so [many] questions!!"
Sorry, but none of us actually have the answers. We're just as confused as you.
Sylvester Stallone is already casting his own Tiger King biopic with his family. The
guy played Rambo and Rocky. Of course, he'd make an excellent casting choice in any potential
biopic, but what's more surprising is how his kids fit in. In a tweet captioned, quote,
"TIGER KING fever has taken over," Sly linked his fans to his hilarious family Instagram
video.
In the video, Stallone's daughters don a cowboy hat, fake facial hair, and fake tattoos while
they pose as Joe Exotic, John Finlay, and Erik Cowie. The girls' mother Jennifer Flavin
Stallone poses as Carole Baskin, and Sly, who's in the final cut, mean-mugs as Jeff
Lowe. They even dress up the family dog as a lion, which isn't quite right, but we're
assuming they're working with what they've got. Perhaps Sylvester could get Al Pacino
to take on the role of Mario Tabraue, the kingpin who allegedly inspired his Scarface
character.
YouTuber Hank Green has uncovered the true tragedy of Tiger King, or at least whatever
tragedy comes second to murder-for-hire, a missing persons case, amputation, divorce,
and possible animal abuse. It's Joe Exotic's music career, but not because it's so bad.
It's unfortunate that it's so bizarrely good. Green tweeted:
"The second most upsetting thing about Tiger King is that his songs aren't bad."
Green should rest-assured knowing that, according to reports, Exotic's music career wasn't actually
him so it's unlikely that he'll release an album from prison. Yes, he still stood on
a truck in a cowboy hat in the middle of a CGI storm. We can't ever take that blessed
moment away, but Vanity Fair reports that the Tiger King commissioned two musicians,
Vince Johnson and Danny Clinton, to write his hits, and they took on the project pro
bono before knowing he'd pull a Milli Vanilli. In fact, Exotic's former producer Rick Kirkham
told Vanity Fair that the star, quote, "couldn't even hold a tune. It was just so ludicrous."
Um, we think the word he's looking for is...exotic.
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