‘Joe Exotic – Tiger King’ Producer Says America’s Next President Needs To ‘Pardon Joe And Legalize Cannabis’

In a COVID-19 world, where uncertainty reigns, one thing is sure: the amount of audio-visual content humanity is devouring has gone way up. Way up. JT Barnett acknowledges this.

“Tiger King was a hit, but I don’t think it would’ve had this much success if everybody wasn’t stuck at home and looking for stuff to consume,” says JT, producer of the original Joe Exotic – Tiger King, and Joe’s dear friend.

Indeed, hardly anyone missed the Netflix hit documentary that came out on March 20 – especially weed enthusiasts. If there had ever been a show to watch while smoking tons-on-tons of cannabis, that is Tiger King. So much so, that there are even Tiger King weed strains in the market right now.

And those are precisely the two things he’s here to talk about today: marijuana, and The Tiger King.

How The Tiger King Reality Show Came To Be – And Not To Be

“You can’t make this stuff up,” JT states with absolute conviction. If you have seen the show (which you probably have), then you know he’s not wrong.

“Everything that was crazy and great about the Tiger King was all in the original series,” he goes on. “I mean: Joe’s a gay, gun carrying, polygamous, redneck with multiple husbands and 200 tigers”

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The show was originally conceived as reality TV. Barnett met Joe Exotic in late 2012 and produced the pilot for Tiger King in 2013, together with a large production company, Good Clean Fun.

The first thing they shot was a sizzle reel – and it was a hit. “Funny story about the sizzle reel,” JT reminisces. “So, Joe has always had several husbands, right? Him and John were together, it was before Travis and so, Joe had a third partner that was in the original pitch with Good Clean Fun. But the weekend we came to shoot the sizzle reel they had a falling out and they broke up. So Joe’s like ‘I need a third husband JT!’”

Of course, Joe couldn’t find a new husband in such a short span of time, so Barnett approached one of the cameramen (to whom he now apologizes profusely) and asked him to stand in.

“I told Juan: ‘Look, just stand in the sizzle reel, be Joe’s third husband, nobody’s ever gonna hear about this Tiger King stuff. Nobody’s ever gonna see this, never ever… It’s just for the sizzle reel, it’s not for air.'”

Boy, was he wrong.

Lucky for Juan, around a month after that, Joe met Travis, so they recut the sizzle to include him. The reel was a success: there was even a bidding war between A&E, Discovery, and Animal Planet for it, says JT. A&E ended up ordering the pilot, and so the process began.

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However, several days into production, Saff (Saffery) got his arm ripped off by a Tiger. This scene was one of the most impactful ones featured in the Netflix documentary; and JT filmed it himself.

“Joe pretty saved Saff’s life that day,” he adds, explaining how Joe kept Saff alive until the paramedics got there.

The accident, coupled with the word about the pilot leaking, radical animal rights activists, and what JT calls “the Carol [Baskin] Mafia” had a perfect storm brewing. Black clouds were heading Joe’s way.

“They literally were sending death threats and picketing A&E,” Barnett recalls. The frenzy was increased because of the large amount of publicity they’d been putting out that year, when pushing for the sale of the pilot. All these combined incidents brought the reality show project to a halt.

“CNN, The Today Show were there, and Joe handled it stoically. Joe really was a good guy. There are some things that Tiger King does get right, that I applaud the producers for,” he adds, quoting the new series’ depiction of Joe’s framing and Carol Baskin’s complicated relationship with her now deceased husband.

Beyond these two facts, he says, Netflix’s version was quite off.

“Joe wasn’t a drug addict, nor was he an animal abuser. This man spent every waking, living, breathing moment taking care of these animals and it’s unfortunate that he gets painted into this dark corner”.

JT swears to Joe’s kindness, and promises if he’d ever thought Joe was a bad person, or seen him abuse the animals, he wouldn’t have worked with him — neither would he support or defend him today. It was flaws in the legal system that allowed Baskin, animal rights activists, and the judge and prosecutor to “gang up on Joe,” he concludes.

“He has a big mouth, he’s really outspoken. You know, they really don’t like somebody like this in Oklahoma. He got this biased homophobic judge; this 70 year old white guy that hates Joe because he’s a gay redneck with two husbands and 200 tigers… And he’s like ‘this doesn’t belong in Oklahoma!'”

No Weed Around The Cats

“I smoke cannabis, I medicate; I have for probably 20 years,” says JT Barnett, when prompted about his relationship with marijuana. “It helps me sleep, helps me focus if I’m doing creative work, writing, editing.”

He calls weed “a real blessing.” It helps him deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and anxiety, among other afflictions. “But like I said, the primary reason I do it is to sleep.” 

But, how did weed fit into a work day surrounded by potentially dangerous animals? “I could say some of the creative content that came out of Tiger King was probably induced somewhere in a cannabis fueled writing haze.”

Smoking at the zoo, however, was a different story.

The producer stresses how important it was for him, personally, to not be high around the animals. “I’d rather not smoke and be a bit on edge than be too relaxed and end up making a mistake that could result in injuries,” he says. Unlike him, his friend Joe never used cannabis, he continues.

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“He wasn’t a drug addict; they like to paint him like one in the show. He experimented with stuff, but from the time I knew him; he wouldn’t hit a joint, he wouldn’t drink a beer, he wouldn’t take an aspirin.”

Upon reflection, JT says maybe Joe should have smoked some cannabis: “it would have calmed him down a little bit.” After all, it was his obsession and anger towards Carol that ended up being the downfall of them both. “I don’t think she’s doing good. I mean, the entire world hates her. Can you imagine being Carol Baskin? You can’t go anywhere!” — he says laughing. “So in the end, I think she kind of loses as well.”

Moving Forward

Right now, JT is working on the documentary House Invasion with multi-platinum publicist / producer Jonathan Hay he says.

The title House Invasion is a play on words, the story of how a deeply disturbing violent home invasion leads to a sense of empowerment with a new career in house music, working at the highest level – turning a negative experience into a positive one. Barnett and Hay just filmed some segments for the project in Dallas, Texas. JT also remains on Joe Exotic’s talent management team, has an exciting new film – The Scarecrow Bandits– coming up, and has partnered on a large studio/art collective in North Dallas called Never Satisfied.

“But primarily right now, we’re working to free Joe and make positive media about him”, he voices. As a matter of fact, JT believes that freeing Joe would be a great political strategy for the coming presidential elections.

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“Joe has millions of fans; these fans cross party lines,” he says. “’Legalize cannabis and pardon Joe; these are two things that should be on the presidential ballot this year.”

Lastly, as one more person who is sick of prejudice, racism, and bias, Barnett declares:

“We have this two party system that’s like a charade.. You have either this 70 year-old white guy or this 70 year-old white guy… Like these are our only choices? We limit our president’s terms for very good reasons; we need to do the same thing in Congress.”

“It’s up to the young people: you gotta vote, you gotta get out there, you gotta run for office, you gotta fight back,” he ends.

Natalia Kesselman co-authored this article.