The Netflix reality series "Tiger King" has become a global cultural phenomenon with millions of people on social media celebrating Joe Maldonado Passage aka Joe Exotic as a "kooky" newly anointed folk hero and brand.
Sadly the undeniable video and legal evidence that Joe Exotic abused, tortured and killed captive tigers and other animals has been largely edited out or given little context. Tiger King has a few token seconds talking about Tigers the wild but that's it.
However what was completely PURPOSELY ERASED was the vile racism expressed by Joe Exotic and his crew towards Black lives. Those in the big cat welfare community have known about his hatred of Black people for years and his racist rants on his Joe Exotic TV Show were well known.
When asked why NONE of Joe Exotic's open racism was shown in Tiger King, co-Director Rebecca Chaiklin said, "He's categorically racist and some of the things he said were very disturbing" but she edited out that footage because "they didn't have a context in the story."
Rebecca Chaiklin talks enthusiastically about how "happy, over the moon and upbeat" and how "charismatic and disarming" Joe Exotic is with the new global fame she's brought him via Tiger King when she speaks to him in prison. In other interviews she became defensive when asked about her 2017 purchase of Joe Exotic's life archives and the "20,000" he was paid. It's clear she's very protective of the Joe Exotic brand clearly knew that including racist footage would've cost her a huge viewership especially with the Black community.
Rebecca Chaiklin has photos of famous Black public figures all over her Instagram. She uses terminology like "Stay Woke" and "We Rise" So surely she understands that racism is not OK and that to be silent is to be complicit.
Add your signature to let Rebecca Chaiklin know that the purposeful erasure of white supremacy is never OK. Tell her she should release that footage so the complete scope of Joe Exotic's persona is exposed not white washed.
