Tiger King: Joe Exotic says he has 'aggressive cancer'

The man known as "Tiger King," who gained fame in a Netflix documentary following his conviction for trying to hire someone to kill an animal rights activist, says he has cancer.

"It is with a sad face that I have to tell you ... that my prostate biopsy's came back with an aggressive cancer," Joe Exotic, who is being held at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, wrote on a Twitter post Wednesday.

The blond mullet-wearing former Oklahoma zookeeper, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is known for his expletive-laden rants on YouTube and a failed 2018 Oklahoma gubernatorial campaign.

He was prominently featured in the popular documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

He was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2020 after being convicted for violating federal wildlife laws and a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting Carole Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida.

A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver in July ordered Maldonado-Passage be resentenced to a shorter term, finding that the trial court wrongly treated the two convictions separately in calculating his prison term.

Joe Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted for violating federal wildlife laws and a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting rival Carole Baskin. Photo / AP

The panel said his advisory sentencing range should be between 17 1/2 years and just under 22 years, rather than between just under 22 years and 27 years in prison used by the trial court.

Maldonado-Passage wrote on Twitter for prayers and "the world to be my voice to be released," saying there is no evidence he committed crimes.