Movies & TV / News

Donald Trump Quips That He’ll ‘Take a Look’ at Tiger King Star’s Pardon Request

April 8, 2020 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Tiger King star Joe Exotic’s request for a presidential pardon has officially reached Donald Trump’s ears. Exotic, the focus of Netflix’s new sensation Tiger King is sitting behind bars with a 22 year prison sentence after being convicted of several counts of animal cruelty and two of murder for hire, has been openly expressing his desire for a pardon as he claims he was unjustly convicted. The show being as popular as it is, it wasn’t long before it reached the President’s ears and did so in a press briefing courtesy of New York Post reporter Steven Nelson.

As USA Today notes, Nelson pointed out that Donald Trump Jr. “jokingly said he was going to advocate for” the pardon and asked if Trump had seen the show and had thoughts on a possible pardon.

“I don’t know, I know nothing about it,” Trump said. “He has 22 years for what? What did he do?”

After Nelson explained the charges, Trump asked if he was “on his [Exotic’s] side,” and asked CNN’s Jim Acosta about it as well. Both of them declined to share their thoughts on whether Exotic deserved a pardon. Trump then went to move onto the next question, then quipped to Nelson, “I’ll take a look.”

It didn’t sound like Trump was being serious, knowing that it was more of a light-hearted question, but you can see the full exchange below and judge for yourself.