‘Tiger King’ Director Confirms That Joe Exotic Is A Racist

Not that we needed any confirmation, but the director of Netflix’s docuseries, Tiger King, has confirmed that Joe Exotic is a racist.

He was asked about the now-viral clip of Exotic ranting because he isn’t allowed to say the n-word.

“Yes. Joe is a racist, I would say categorically. He said things when we were filming that were very unsettling,” Rebecca Chaiklin said. THR then asked her why Exoti’c racist moments were cut out.

“They didn’t have a context in the story, but he has a lot to learn. I think most of it was ignorance and not having a lot of exposure, and I think he even evolved over the course of the time that we filmed,” she continued.

Another director, Eric Goode, added that he feels it is important that people know that Exotic is a racist.

“I would say it’s very important for people to know this, that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of empathy for [Joe’s current husband] Dillon. We had empathy for Joe, but Joe did a lot of horrible things. Joe committed some really serious crimes and Joe was not only cruel and inhumane to his animals, he was cruel to the people around him,” he said. “I think it’s very important for people to understand that Joe is an actor and he tells people what they want to hear. As much as we have some empathy for Joe and found Joe to be such an incredible character — this mullet-wearing country singer in Oklahoma — he did a lot of horrible things.”