Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is a big hit for Netflix and it seems like everyone can’t stop talking about it.

The documentary series focuses primarily on Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, known as Joe Exotic. It chronicles multiple big cat conservators and collectors while mostly zooming in on the feud between Exotic and Carole Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue.

Exotic has gained a new legion of fans who started the hashtag #FreeJoeExotic and have been railing against Baskin, the woman he is accused of hatching a murder-for-hire plot against. Exotic has turned into a folk hero of sorts, especially on Black Twitter, with even celebrities like Cardi B promoting him. The rapper tweeted, “Bout to start a gofundme account for Joe. He shall be free.”

However, as more and more eyes get on the Netflix series, more information is coming out about Exotic, including a resurfaced video that shows him wanting to use N****r and complaining because he can’t do so and Black rappers can.

In a video that is circulating on Twitter from an undetermined date, Exotic says, “What’s going in this country is absolutely pathetic. I can’t say the n-word, but you can get on YouTube watch any Black man’s rap video and they’re calling each other the n-word. What the hell? Is this discrimination? I’m white. I can’t say the n-word and they can?”

Ummm so I found this earlier today… pic.twitter.com/gd3kBsq6d0

— Terry Jane Paul (@InThierry) March 31, 2020

TMZ says, “The footage appears to be from his old online reality series ‘Joe Exotic TV’ but it’s only now hitting the fan … due to the popularity of the Netflix documentary.”

The video’s resurfacing comes just as Shaquille O’Neal, who appeared in Tiger King via archive footage, is defending himself and says he never bought any exotic animals. He also clarified his relationship with Joe Exotic.

He said on his podcast, “We’re there and I dropped some donations for the tigers’ foods and all that. We take pictures with [the] tigers. We went back a couple times. Then we go back another time and we found out that he’s involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going.”

O’Neal says that when he found out that the animals may be mistreated that Exotic may be “shady,” he didn’t come back. “I don’t harm tigers. I love tigers. I love white tigers. Do I put donations to these zoos to help these tigers out? I do it all the time. Do I own tigers personally at my house? No. But I love tigers. Listen, people are going to make their own opinions, but, again, I was just a visitor. I met this guy — not my friend. Don’t know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on,” he said.

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Photo: Joe Exotic TV

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