'Tiger King' star Joshua Dial claims Jeff Lowe and federal government 'framed' Joe Exotic
A former employee of 'Tiger King' Joe Exotic, Joshua Dial, revealed that he was surprised at how Joe's rival Carole Baskin was portrayed in the Netflix series and also talked about the alleged video Jeff Lowe has of Joe watching someone have sex with animals.
According to Dial, he has not heard anything from Baskin or about her but believes that she is possibly very angry at how she was shown in the series. While speaking on the Domenick Nati Show, Dial shared, "We didn't even realize how they're going to portray her until they did in the series."
"There was one point during the filming where I almost thought that maybe they were filming on behalf of Carole Baskin because of the questions they would ask me during the interview. I kind of had a little bit of anxiety for several months thinking they were just filming for Carole Baskin and take everyone down," he revealed.
"You can't put anything past these animal people. The folks in the animal industry are vicious," he added. Joe is currently serving a 22-year sentence for animal abuse and murder-for-hire. He had hired a hitman to kill Baskin who is his rival. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) had earlier reported that one of the zookeepers, Saff, believes the feuding animal lovers had started out "standing up for what they believed was right," but things "started to not be about the animals" as their animosity towards each other intensified.
During the interview, Dial also shed some light on an alleged video that shows Joe watching someone have sex with animals. Dial revealed that he had heard of the rumors a while back and shared that zoo owner Jeff Lowe had told him about the video and that he had it.
Dial did not confirm whether it was Joe or not. "I don't want to say a name as the allegations are so salacious and I myself have not seen the video," he shared. He also believes that Joe was framed by Lowe and the federal government. He said that one should keep aside their opinions about Joe and Lowe and the whole animal industry and "just ask yourself, is it ok for the federal government to in trap you into committing a crime? I don't believe that the answer is yes."
"I think it was a conspiracy to take his zoo and the federal government played along," he added.
Dial also revealed that he and other cast members received absolutely no money for being in the docuseries before discussing POTUS Donald Trump considering a pardon for Joe. He says that Joe should not be pardoned but should be offered clemency.
He added how he would not be surprised if Trump had people looking into what kind of bump he would get in polls should he offer clemency or pardon to Joe. MEAWW had previously reported that a reporter was heard asking Trump whether he has heard of the Netflix series and if so, would he commute Joe's 22-year-sentence.
Trump responded saying, "I’ll take a look" when he was asked about the case and his son Trump Jr's support for a pardon. POTUS' eldest son has made jokes about lobbying for his father to pardon Joe. Trump then asked, "Which son? Must be Don — what did he do?" referring to Trump Jr.
Trump Jr on Tuesday, April 7, said he thought the 22-year sentence for the zookeeper, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was "aggressive".