Joe Exotic — the zoo operator turned convicted felon turned Netflix docuseries superstar — is the latest celeb to hop on the NFT hype train. On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency platform MORE announced a new collaboration with Exotic featuring digital Tiger King tokens and real-world collectibles that the star will be fronting from his prison cell in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Being able to auction off collectibles makes me feel connected with the outside world, especially without my cats by my side,” Exotic said in a statement. “Whether you love me or hate me for what you think I’ve done, there’s no doubt that everyone wants a piece of The Tiger King!”
Exotic is just starting to serve his 22-year prison sentence after authorities charged him with an attempted murder plot on fellow big-cat activist Carole Baskin — and over a dozen animal abuse charges — back in 2019. It’s unclear what kind of role Exotic will be taking from inside his cell, or if he even knows what an NFT actually is. If he did, he’d probably know that the value of these sorts of digital tokens is sinking fast — both because of the currently crashing crypto market and because people are finally seeing these tokens for the scams that they are.
Thankfully, Exotic’s auction won’t only have digital collectibles up for grabs. Aside from what the press release calls “Joe Exotic cryptocurrency themed digital artworks(?),” it also mentions some IRL Exotic merch will also be auctioned off, including his personal pistol and holster, two of his (many) leather jackets, and some in-prison audio personally recorded by Exotic. All of these items will go up for auction Friday, June 18th on the NFT marketplace Mintable.
Even if the NFT game doesn’t work out for the Tiger King in the end, he has a backup plan — the same day MORE made its announcement, TMZ reported that Exotic will be debuting a new cannabis line from his cell as well. Call him what you want, but you can’t deny this guy knows how to hustle.