Credit: Netflix
The 59-year-old Tiger King star called the agreement a “slap in the face” to every American wrongfully detained in recently released audio that TMZ obtained. Joe, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, is currently in prison for a total of 21 years after being found guilty of animal abuse and attempted murder of Carole Baskin, a longstanding rival and co-star on Tiger King.
In the recording, Joe reaffirmed his innocence and pleaded with President Biden to arrange his release. He questioned why, while he and other Americans who had been “wrongfully detained” were still detained, the US administration moved so quickly to secure Griner’s release. Nearly ten months after WNBA star 32-year-old Griner was detained in Russia for allegedly carrying hash oil to a Moscow airport, the audio became public. In the end, Griner admitted to bringing drugs into the nation and was given a nine-year prison term in Russia.
After Russia agreed to free the athlete in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has spent the previous ten years in a U.S. jail on various terrorism-related offenses, the Biden administration announced on Thursday that Griner was returning home.
“The whole Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed prisoner swap is a slap in every American’s face that is wrongfully detained in the American Federal Prison System, including myself,” Joe said in the recording. “A dangerous man was released for Brittney Griner to be free. It’s time Joe Exotic gets to go home for Christmas to be home with [boyfriend] Seth and his son for the first time in 5 Christmases.”