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Joe Exotic
The proud owner of the G.W. Zoo as well as one of the main figures that the docuseries focuses on. Joe is an eccentric, gun-wielding, gay, polygamist, redneck who finds himself in a never-ending feud between himself and the leader of Big Cat Rescue; Carole Baskin.
- '80s Hair: A mullet.
- Animal Lover: Joe certainly sees himself as one, despite later admitting his zoo was run-down and the animals might have suffered for it.
- Animal Motifs: Primarily Tigers, but he also has traits associated with Lions—his controlling nature towards his husbands is evocative of a male lion and his pride, his mullet brings to mind a lion's mane, and his aggression towards Carol Baskin is similar to a male lion's aggression toward rival males.
- Arch-Enemy: Carole Baskin. The two were infamous for their heated rivalry due to their opposing beliefs on big cat ownership, and they repeatedly tried to sabotage each other.
- Attention Whore: In case it wasn't obvious, Joe making his employee's arm being torn off about himself is a clue.
- Bad Boss: Paid his workers poorly, had them live in abhorrent, filthy trailers, and fed them expired meat from Wal-Mart.
- Bait the Dog: When Saff is mutilated by the tiger, Joe is one of the first people at the scene, he personally ties a tourniquet to the arm, and sits by his side keeping him calm. However, once the camera's on him alone, he admits he's more worried about the financial loss he's about to take then the fact Saff may lose a limb.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: The last episode reveals that Joe started out advocating for the big cats and taking a principled stance against breeding them, but he ends up breeding them himself.
- Berserk Button:
- Carole fuckin Baskin.
- Animal rights activists in general tend to rile him up, as he believes that they want his animals for themselves.
- Control Freak: Joe was extremely controlling of Travis, not letting him be away from home for more than a day, trying to stop him from seeing his family, and not letting him get a proper job.
- Despair Event Horizon: He definitely reached it when Travis killed himself, however, he seemed to bounce back at least a little bit thanks to his new husband Dillon. However, it's when Jeff Lowe takes the zoo and he learns that he has a federal case against him where Joe breaks down completely, finally admitting that for all intents and purposes, he's done.
- First Love: Season 2 talks about Joe's first husband, Brian Rhyne, who died of AIDS in 2001. Family friends agree that Brian was good for Joe, and kept him in line, and that Joe became far worse after losing him.
- Framing the Guilty Party: As revealed in Season 2, while Joe is guilty of many animal rights violations, he didn't actually make the plot to kill Carole (or at least didn't do it the way it was stated at court). That was actually a scheme between Jeff and Allen to kill Joe due to both getting absolutely fed up with Joe's antics. Allen ended up backing out due to his conscience, so they instead adapted the scheme to incriminate Joe.
- Gayngst-Induced Suicide: As a young man, Joe struggled with depression when he realized that he was gay, spending a lot of time on suicide hotlines and according to his former girlfriend he attempted to take his own life several times. His limp is the result of a Happily Failed Suicide.Joe: At the age of 13, I knew I was gay. And I had a bad time struggling with it. When my father found out, he made me shake his hand in front of my mom and promise not to come to his funeral. So I had a real issue dealing with that, and one night I drove my car off a bridge. I broke my back, and spent 5 years in braces.
- Gun Nut: He had a fondness of guns, particularly revolvers as he always had one in his holster. It was also his go-to gift for his husbands, who would then use said guns to blow shit up.
- Handicapped Badass: He had spinal cord problems ever since he attempted suicide when he was a teen, but he still is good with a gun and, even if the final interviews reveal that Joe only dared to get close and handle the big cats if they were sedated, the recording of the one that suddenly attacked him showcases that it doesn't really reduce their danger one bit.
- Has a Type: Joe's type tended to be The Twink. Joshua Dial, himself a gay man, describes them as "young and dumb".
- He Who Fights Monsters: In the beginning of his zookeeping career, Joe genuinely cared about the animals he gathered, reasoning that while they should be living in their natural habitat and lobbying laws that would benefit them. But once he started making money off of them, his financial well-being took priority over the animals' health.
- Internet Jerk: Joe's internet TV series was full of hateful screed, up to and including overt death threats, against his Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Carole Baskin. It came back to bite him when these statements were used as evidence against him in his murder-for-hire trial.
- It's All About Me: He has an evident narcissistic streak. Most infamously, when one of his employees loses an arm in a tiger attack, Joe is heard complaining, "I'm never going to financially recover from this!".
- Large Ham: Even in the World of Ham that is Tiger King, Joe's persona stands out as exaggeratedly over-the-top flamboyant.
- Lower-Class Lout: Let's see... Prone to dealing in and/or doing drugs? Check. Typically carries around knives, guns, or other weapons? Check. Petty vengefulness and vindictiveness, often when he's at least partly in the wrong? Check. In all honesty, Joe checks most (if not all) traits that the lout embodies.
- Manly Gay: He's gay, owns guns, does manly things, and has tigers.
- Never My Fault: When asked about his actions, he is often very reluctant to accept any share of the blame. In one example, he lambasts Carol for "harassing" his family, conveniently forgetting that he put them into the firing line by transferring many of his assets into their names to stop them being confiscated as part of a lawsuit settlement.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Self-deprecatingly advertises himself as a "Gun-Toting Gay Cowboy Tiger Zookeeper with a Mullet and proud of all of it", or along similar lines, which only increases his bohemian image.
- Pet the Dog: Joe is unquestionably a spectacular Jerkass, but he is seen doing some things to give back to the community, such as serving a large Thanksgiving dinner for the needy at his own expense.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Averted by the documentary makers. It was later revealed that a lot of material cut from the finished product involved Joe casually using many racist and other bigoted slurs in his angry rants, but this was cut as it likely would have made him even more unsympathetic to the audience.
- Properly Paranoid: He certainly had enemies. The local sheriff says he has 40 to 50 reports from Joe of people trying to get on the park. He's right Carole Baskin has it out for him, as does PETA. And season 2 suggests that he really was framed for attempted murder.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to both John Finlay's and Carole's blues.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: He's usually carrying around a wheelgun or sometimes two. He claims that they're not for use on any big cats that turn on him, but for self defence against people who attempt to attack him. However, he uses one to fend off the tiger that tries to gnaw on his foot by firing warning shots at it.
- Sanity Slippage: Apparently went "completely off the deep end" after Travis died.
- Saying Too Much: Joe is absolutely incapable of keeping his mouth shut, which constantly gets him in trouble. John Reinke, possibly the only friend he has left, completely refuses to talk to him in prison for fear Joe will get recorded casually saying something incriminating.
- Stupid Crooks: Joe's plan to kill Carole was to promise $5000 to Allen, a man he hated and who hated him, and then only give him $3000. The plan ended with Allen driving several states away before blowing the money at strip clubs.
- Stupid Evil: He continued his rivalry with Carole even when it led to his empire collapsing and ultimately to 22 years in prison over murder for hire.
- Tragic Villain: People in the documentary describe him as someone who probably did have noble intentions at first, and Joe himself contemplates some of his own actions in the very last scene, but fueling his own greed and ego became more important to him over time than the animals.
- Villain Protagonist: The titular Tiger King, and the focus of the documentary due to orchestrating an attempted assassination of a business rival.
- Windmill Crusader: Joe's hatred of "that bitch" Carole Baskin went beyond any kind of rhyme or reason, and he blamed for for anything bad happening in his life (including Travis comitting suicide), overlooked any other threats to his person (Lowe conspiring to take over the zoo), and constantly boasted that he was going to get her. This last one ended up causing his doom, because it provided plenty of evidence for his charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
Husbands
Brian Rhyne
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Brian had lung cancer, made worse by the fact he was HIV-positive. After one of his numerous trips to the hospital, Brian died in the parking lot on the way home, in Joe's arms.
- Gay Cowboy: In many of their pictures, the pair of them look like gay cowboys. Neither was actually a cowboy, though—they were just guys living in Dallas, Texas, wearing cowboy style clothing.
- The Lost Lenore: Family friends agree that Brian was good for Joe, and that Joe became far worse after losing him. The show certainly leans into this, editing Joe's song "My First Love" (which also uses the line "my true love") into the section on Brian. Even if you give it a skeptical reading, it does at least sound like this was the best of all Joe's marriages. If nothing else it was the longest lasting one, and at least Brian was around the same age as Joe, and actually gay.
- Morality Chain: Most people who knew Joe at the time agree he became a far worse person after Brian died.Niece: He always told Joe like it was. Joe stayed in line with Brian.
Ex-employee: The Joe in 2000, I never saw one shred of narcissism. But after Brian passed away, Joe was a totally changed person. - Satellite Love Interest: Little is publicly known/mentioned about him aside from his relationship with and influence on Joe.
- Tragic AIDS Story: Truth in Television—a gay man who died in 2001.
John Finlay
- Addled Addict: His meth addiction led to him losing teeth and being manipulated into marrying Joe, despite John's heterosexuality.
- Coming Straight Story: Near the end of the docuseries, he admits to Joe that he's not truly gay and leaves him for a woman.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Once had a tattoo that stated that he was owned by Joe. He gets it covered up with a new tattoo at the end of the series.
- Face of a Thug: He looks like a Tattooed Crook who's missing teeth, yet he's one of the friendliest figures in the series.
- Recovered Addict: As revealed in the eighth episode, he's been six years clean of meth and is doing much better, both physically and mentally.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The demure blue to Joe's red.
- Shrinking Violet: Says that he's never been a people person, and is shown to be one of the more reserved characters on the show.
- The Twink: While he's older than Travis and Dillon, he was young when he met Joe.John Finlay: When I first met Joe, I was like a month out of high school. I was with Joe from 2003 to 2014, so 11 years.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: He's shirtless during his interviews, barring the eight episode. Apparently, he wanted to show off his tattoos.
Travis Maldonado
- Accidental Murder: A suicidal variant. He accidentally shoots himself while trying to prove to Joshua that it wouldn't fire.
- Addled Addict: He was addicted to methamphetamine and weed provided to him by Joe.
- Driven to Suicide: Accidentally shoots himself in the head while trying to prank Joshua Dial with a gun. A few interviewees note he'd expressed suicidal thoughts before that.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: One interpretation of his death. Joshua Dial, who witnessed the whole thing, claims that Travis looked shocked in the split second before he bled out.
- Stepford Smiler: Had a cheerful and hammy persona on par with Joe's, which served to conceal the trauma from his husband Joe's abuse.
- Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about him without spoiling one of the most shocking scenes of the docuseries.
Dillon Passage
- May–December Romance: With Joe, who was in his 50s by the time they hooked up; meanwhile, Dillon was 19.
- Undying Loyalty: Shows this towards his husband Joe, whom he believes in despite what he did. For a while at least—Subverted Trope.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Dillon eventually divorced Joe in prison.
Staff
John Reinke
- An Arm and a Leg: Due to a zip line accident, John is a double amputee with two prosthetic legs.
- Married to the Job: He was so attached to his job as a zookeeper that he left his wife of 30 years. Now he lives alone.
- Only Sane Man: Among the G.W. staff he seems to be one of the few level-headed people there, often trying to keep Joe out of trouble and acting as the voice of reason during Joe's more extreme actions.
- Undying Loyalty: Towards Joe and the G.W. Zoo in general, as he's been working there since near the beginning.
Kelci "Saff" Saffery
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: He's a trans man, although the shows subtitles and other interview subjects occasionally misgender him. While some viewers were outraged about this, Saff didn't mind.
- An Arm and a Leg: A tiger wounds Saff's left arm. When given the choice between extensive physical therapy to rehabilitate the arm, and amputation, Saff chose amputation. Joe is more concerned about the impact this will have on his bottom line than on Saff's well-being.
- Animal Lover: Probably the biggest genuine example on the show. In addition to his excitement over a cat jumping on his lap near the beginning of the series, he shows no ill will towards the tiger that mauled his arm, and returns to work early to continue caring for it and the other animals.
- Made of Iron: Saff lost his arm to a tiger, never complained for a second, and returned to work a few days later. Even during his interview, he shows no resentment towards Joe or the tiger for the incident, and has no regrets.
- Mellow Fellow: One of the friendliest fellows in the whole documentary, never showing resentment towards anyone, not even Joe.
- Last-Name Basis: Saff is a short form of Saffery, because before working at a zoo, Saff was in the military, where calling people by their surname is common practice.
Erik Kowie
- Animal Lover: He clearly cares about the animals at GW Zoo, and is devastated and furious that Joe killed five tigers for no reason.
- Cool Shades: He only takes them off when he goes to court.
- Despair Event Horizon: Following him testifying against Joe, one of Erik's last scenes seems him heavily intoxicated and despondent over him realizing his accountability in being present for Joe euthanizing animals.
- Drowning My Sorrows: He drinks heavily to sooth his depression from being a party to animal mistreatment. He eventually dies from alcohol poisoning between season 1 and season 2, which is dedicated to his memory.
- Face of a Thug: Apparently, this is why Joe made Erik help him euthanize five tigers, because he thought Erik looked like someone who could handle it. It deeply affected Erik, as he actually cared about the animals.
- Nice Guy: Erik only wants to care for the animals, and doesn't give a damn about the drama. He looks clearly depressed when Joe's antics start to impact the zoo's welfare.
- Sophisticated as Hell: It's especially apparent in the aftershow episode, where he drops in comments like that not only was Joe a "fucking asshole" but also "absurdly crass".
Jeff Lowe
- Baldness Angst: Possibly. In one of his rants against Jeff, Joe makes a point of saying that he's bald, indicating that it may be a sensitive subject for him. Supporting this is the fact that the only time he is ever seen without his hat is when he’s in prison.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Presents himself as an angel investor who earnestly wants to see the park grow to Joe, only to sabotage him the moment the opportunity presents itself.
- Con Man: He's invariably described as a very skilled con artist who routinely screws over his business partners, scams customers, and even defrauded a battered women's shelter for millions of dollars.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A rich, narcissistic investor who seeks to hostilely take over the G.W. Zoo and later tries to build a new zoo with another investor whom he expected to foot the entire bill after agreeing on a 50/50 split.
- Dirty Old Man: He uses the tigers to have sex with younger women and apparently invested in the zoo in the first place so he could use it as a pick-up ground for him and his wife Lauren. This got so bad that the zookeepers were instructed to alert him with "Code 69" if an attractive woman walked onto the premises. In his (failed) second zoo project in Thackerville, he tried to build a sex club in the middle of the park.
- Enemy Mine: In season 2. After both of Jeff's Greater Wynnewood and Thackerville zoo projects collapse and he finds himself facing the same animal cruelty charges as his predecessor, Jeff unexpectedly volunteers himself to help Joe's legal case, now claiming that the murder-for-hire case was bogus from the start.
- Evil Virtues: Jeff has done his share of morally questionable things, and the documentary indisputably paints him as a bad guy—but the zoo employees generally speak positively of him in their interviews in episode 8, noting that he's a capable administrator and a decent boss. If nothing else, they seem to prefer working for him to working for Joe.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Even more than Joe. Not only is he aggressive and antagonistic, he also has a long history of aggravated assault. He also choked one of his ex-wives in a fit of rage.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: He always dresses in leather jackets, primarily because of the tigers, but the coolness factor probably plays a part as well.
- Jerkass: One of the worst examples on the show. He gives even less of a damn about the animals than Joe, and actively seeks to sabotage him and his image.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Jeff almost gets a redeeming moment when he and his pregnant wife talk about being excited for their new baby. Then, Jeff says that she'll have to go to the gym after giving birth. Then, he ogles a photo of their young, attractive nanny in front of his wife.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When the feds show up to seize the animals that are being kept in poor conditions in the half-finished Thackerville zoo, Jeff surrenders his animals peacefully with only a Precision F-Strike. Contrast this to his former partner Tim Stark, who tries to intimidate and threaten the cops and is forced to go on the run.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: With Joe in jail, he succeeded in completely taking over the park and begun work on recreating it in his own image. However, after the first season's release, Carole Baskin took control
of the G.W. Zoo as part of a trademark dispute settlement, and he was ordered to vacate the premises. Lowe tried to build a second park in Thackerville and moved most of the animals there, but these were later seized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Jeff was charged with animal cruelty, as shown in season 2. - Mock Millionaire: While he does have money, he is nowhere near as rich as he makes himself out to be. It's revealed that his mansion is rented and he's been behind on car payments.
- Never Bareheaded: Is never seen without a bandanna on his head with an Oakley cap on top of it, except for when he is in prison. As mentioned above, this may be due to Baldness Angst.
- Only in It for the Money: Invests and takes over the zoo for his own financial gain, caring little for the animals and employees.
- The Starscream: Allen Glover alleges in season 2 that he and Jeff tried to murder Joe himself before the whole Carole Baskin plot came to fruition.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He's a sleazy old man married to a much younger and more attractive woman.
- Unholy Matrimony: In season 2, everybody describes Jeff's wife Lauren as an equal partner in his sleazy schemes.
Allen Glover
- The Atoner: In season 2, he says he feels ashamed for putting Joe in jail and claims that he was manipulated by Jeff. He starts to work with Joe's legal team to get him a second trial.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: His eyes are light blue, adding to his intimidating appearance. In the aftershow, Joel McHale says they remind him of a wolf's eyes.
- Face of a Thug: He's got a rather intimidating look about him, which is why Joe hires him to try and kill Carole Baskin, but he ultimately couldn't bring himself to kill his target. Jeff and his wife insist that Allen is really a sweetheart.
- Hookers and Blow: He blew the three grand that Joe paid him for Carole's murder at several strip clubs.
- The Informant: Becomes an informant for the FBI at Lowe's urging to bring down Joe.
- Professional Killer: Subverted. He's hired by Joe to assassinate Carole Baskin, but ultimately gives up, taking the money and running. Plus, it's not even known if he killed someone before.
- The Stoic: Allen is not very emotive, even when he's angry. He smiles maybe once, and even that wasn't much.
- Tattooed Crook: He's a former convict with a teardrop tattoo. Whether he killed someone is not definitely stated (it could also mean that Allen mourns the death of someone close to him), but Joe felt comfortable enough to include Allen in his murder-for-hire scheme.
- We Used to Be Friends: He was brought into the park as one of Jeff's friends and handymen, but about a year after the murder-for-hire scheme falls apart, he turns on Jeff and says he manipulated him to get rid of Joe.
Others
Rick Kirkham
- Dark Is Not Evil: Although Rick wears all-black, he's a considerably nicer individual than most in the series.
- Despair Event Horizon: When his documentary footage is destroyed in a deliberate fire, potentially set by Joe himself, wiping out his retirement fund plan. Rick immediately drove home with his dog, washed his hands off the tiger trade and had a long nervous breakdown.
- Fatal Flaw: In the past, Greed, by his own description. Kirkham admits that he was mainly thinking of the money he could make of Joe Exotic's crazy life and the emergent "Tiger King" brand through his reality show, freely admitting that he never gave a damn about Joe personally despite living with him for a year. This came back to bite him when his documentary footage was all destroyed in a fire. Whether or not it was a deliberate arson attack, Kirkham has come to terms with it and views it as karma for having embroiled himself too far into the madness.
- Only in It for the Money: Joins Joe's team primarily because of the profits he believed the "Tiger King" series would generate.
- Only Sane Man: As an outsider, Rick has a clearer and more detached view of the whole proceedings. This makes him a good choice as a narrator, although he does admit that even he started to notice that he was being drawn into Joe Exotic's world to some degree.
Joshua Dial
- Know When to Fold Them: As he lampshades himself, despite his Libertarian beliefs and general dislike of the government he still submitted immediately when federal agents were right in his face threatening to charge him as an accessory.
- Only Sane Man: In Joe's political campaign. He actually did have at least some knowledge of politics, and recognized Joe's campaign as a publicity stunt from the get go.
- Straight Gay: He's gay, but he's nowhere as flamboyant as Joe Exotic, and it's only really brought up when directly asked if Joe ever tried to seduce him.
- What, Exactly, Is His Job?: He apparently already worked for Joe before the campaigns and was still there after, but we're never told what he does. Given that he seemed to work out of the office and is not shown interacting with the animals, it might have been administrative.
James Garretson
- Dirty Coward: The only reason why he helps the FBI take down Joe is to keep himself out of prison.
- Fat Bastard: A backstabber who's noticeably obese.
- Hypocrite: In the first episode, he claims that "the big cat people are backstabbing pieces of shit". However, James also owns exotic animals, and has done shady things in the past, and ended up backstabbing Joe.
- The Informant: Acts as an FBI informant, collecting information on Joe to expose him for his murder-for-hire plot.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Implied to be homophobic. He drops the anti-LGBT slur "queen" in one interview segment, referring to the openly gay Joe as the "Tiger Queen" before chuckling.
- Product Placement: The seemingly-random jet ski scene makes more sense if you know that he owns a jet ski business in Florida.
- Smug Snake: Tends to act like he's one step ahead of everyone, and seems to think that he's cooler and smarter than he really is. The infamous jet ski scene makes it seem like he thinks he's way more on top of things than his actions would indicate.
- Stupid Crooks: He tries to sell the Baskins dirt on Joe by texting them from his own registered phone number. They immediately passed this on to the authorities.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. While he remains a pretty sleazy character in Season 2, it also shows a more mellow side of him.
- We Used to Be Friends: Was once a friend of Joe Exotic, who even kept Garretson's animals at his park.
