“Tiger King” star John Finlay is getting candid about his experience with the popular docu-series, claiming Netflix portrayed him as a “drugged-out hillbilly.”
In an interview with Channel Q’s “The Morning Beat Monday, Finlay, who is a fan-favorite from the series, opened up about his newfound fame and revealed the last time he spoke to his ex-husband, Joseph Maldonado-Passage a.k.a “Joe Exotic.”
When asked by the radio show’s co-hosts AJ and Mikala how it feels to be a “sexual icon,” Finlay replied, “You know it’s pretty crazy, but I still have a normal life that I live. So the only thing that’s changed is the thing and all the interviews and all the Cameos.”
Finlay, along with several of his “Tiger King” castmates are on Cameo, an online service that enables fans to purchase personalized video messages from their favorite celebrities. A message from Finlay will cost you $85.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock while in quarantine, “Tiger King” — the wild, seven-part Netflix docu-series — focuses on the years-long battle between Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic, the now-imprisoned polygamist who presided over a rival exotic animal park and was convicted of trying to hire someone to kill her.
As the show presents, Finlay was in a polyamorous marriage with Exotic and the late Travis Maldonado. And years before Maldonado’s tragic death, Finlay and Exotic split after the former got a fellow worker at the animal park pregnant and left the marriage.
AJ and Mikalah asked Finlay if he’s spoken to Exotic since the show’s debut last month. (Exotic, who began his 22-year sentence back in January, was recently transferred Oklahoma’s Grady County Jail to the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas after the former had confirmed cases of COVID-19.)
“No. We have not spoken since 2018,” Finlay said, also revealing he hasn’t talked to anyone else from the show.
As many of the “Tiger King” stars have given their thoughts on their portrayals on the series, Finlay was also asked to weigh in.
“There was one part that was like really bad and they made me look like a drugged-out hillbilly,” he replied, adding that it made him feel “kinda ticked off.”
On a lighter note, Finlay admitted he didn’t expect the show would have become so successful and said he’s received a fairly positive response from fans.
“The most surprising part is I don’t really have a whole lot of haters,” he said. “It’s more positive than it is negative through the whole thing.”
Meanwhile, Finlay’s life is now vastly different than what viewers saw on the show. He’s engaged, but not to Amber, who he was revealed to have been in a relationship with at the end of the docu-series. Finlay is in a relationship with a woman named Stormi, but they’ve yet to set a wedding date due to COVID-19.
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