Tiger King subject Joe Exotic is hitting back at naysayers in a new explosive interview from federal prison. The reality star dismissed any hard feelings towards Carole Baskin, but is maintaining that the hit Netflix docuseries “ruined” his life. 

In an exclusive interview with TMZ, Exotic said that he is battling “depression” due to his alleged innocence.

Without revealing too much, the inmate claimed to have video evidence proving that his accusers lied about the crimes which landed him behind bars. In 2019, Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for his conspiracy to kill Baskin. He was resentenced in 2022, shaving off one year.

When asked if he would forgive Baskin amid his cancer diagonsis, Exotic said, “I already forgave her.”

He continued, “Am I gonna forget? Never. I’ve been through Hell in the last five years. But forgive? I have no hard feelings. I never really had any hard feelings against Carole Baskin.”

The former zoo owner added that “bashing” others within the animal rights world is “how people make money.” He said, “Carole made money telling people that I abuse my animals, and I got attention saying she killed her husband.”

Exotic stated that his biggest regret was “owning a zoo” and “meeting Jeff Lowe,” the latter worked as an informant to help prove the claims against Exotic. 

Addressing Tiger King, the convict told TMZ, “I didn’t do Tiger King, Tiger King ruined my life. I was filming a little tiger show in 2016 and 2017 and then Netflix and Eric Goode and all of them turned this into a conspiracy to kill Carole Baskin to make a show.” He called the show “pre-set-up,” claiming to have evidence that participants were paid to “say what they said.”

In a strange turn of events, Exotic also opened up about his candidacy for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, stating that he’s officially registered as a libertarian. “I intend on making the politicians and the American people listen to what’s going on in this country,” he said in regards to his policies.

In January, when Baskin was making headlines for past claims that her ex Don Lewis was alive, Exotic’s legal representative pushed back and called her statement “unsupported.” Attorney John Phillips echoed, “Tiger King is filled with lies, set up and misdirection. We await a hearing for Joe’s freedom. The lies are spelled out in his Motion for New Trial.”