Joe Exotic’s third husband Dillon Passage has vowed to stick by his ‘romantic and charismatic’ partner during his 22-year prison sentence.
Dillon, 22, appeared on UK TV show This Morning on Wednesday, and discussed hit Netflix documentary Tiger King, while revealing Joe, 57, felt ‘excited’ after President Trump said he would ‘look’ at pardoning his prison sentence.
Joe is currently serving a 22-year sentence at Grady County Jail in Oklahoma after being found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot against his exotic animal rival Carole Baskin, 58.
Stand by your man: Joe Exotic’s third husband Dillon Passage has vowed to stick by his ‘romantic and charismatic’ partner during his 22-year prison sentence
Dillon told This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford that his husband is excited to ‘see what could happen’ on Wednesday, while vowing to stick by his partner throughout his incarceration.
He said: ‘I’m going to stay by Joe’s side, he stood by me, it would show lack of character not to, he doesn’t deserve to be in there [prison] that long.’
While adding: ‘It’s a big deal to have the president address something like that, Joe is a really big Trump supporter so he was really excited to see what could happen.’
On Monday on SiriusXM, Donald Trump Jr. had called Exotic’s sentence ‘aggressive’ after watching the documentary series in two sittings.
Love: Joe is currently serving a 22-year sentence at Grady County Jail in Oklahoma after being found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot against his exotic animal rival Carole Baskin, 58
‘Now, I don’t even know exactly what he was charged with … I watched the show, but it was like, I don’t know exactly what he was guilty of or wasn’t,’ Trump Jr. said.
‘It doesn’t seem like he was totally innocent of anything. But when they’re saying, “We’re putting this guy away for 30 years,” I’m saying that seems sort of aggressive.’
When a reporter brought up his son’s comments, Trump commented, ‘Which son? It must be Don. I had a feeling it was Don,’ the president said.
Opinion: Dillon, 22, appeared on UK TV show This Morning on Wednesday, and discussed hit Netflix documentary Tiger King, while revealing Joe, 57, felt ‘excited’ after President Trump said he would ‘look’ at pardoning his prison sentence.
‘I know nothing about it,’ Trump admitted, asking the reporter who posed the question, The New York Post’s Steven Nelson, to describe Exotic’s crimes. He then said he’d take a look.
During Wednesday’s interview, Dillon also touched on how Joe is getting on behind bars and said that they are currently focusing on an appeal to free the former zoo owner.
He said: ‘I don’t think you can say anyone is doing good if they’re in jail, but we’re doing our best. We’ve got an appeal coming up, which could take around a year.’
The TV star discussed what attracted him to Joe, and said: ‘I mean who isn’t going to want to be around baby tigers, it’s a whole different world. But the first time I met Joe was at a bar and he sang me one of his songs.
What! Joe and Dillon raised eyebrows when they announced their engagement just two weeks after the death of his late husband Travis Maldonado (pictured)
He also described what he was like off camera, adding: ‘He’s a pretty wild character, the series really showed his eccentric sides but behind the camera he’s sweet and sensitive, he would have done anything for anyone.’
‘The producers wanted to get across that he’s charismatic and doesn’t care what people think, but behind the cameras he’s really sweet and romantic. He woke me up with coffee and a croissant each morning.’
Joe and Dillon raised eyebrows when they announced their engagement just two weeks after the death of his late husband Travis Maldonado in December 2017.
The couple married in a small ceremony which was attended by Travis’ mother Cheryl, who has claimed she felt used and disregarded by Joe once she had given his new relationship her blessing.
Travis, who married Joe in a polygamous ceremony, shot himself in the head after he became convinced his gun wouldn’t fire a round in the chamber without a clip.
Rival: Dillon also touched on how Joe is getting on behind bars and said that they are currently focusing on an appeal to free the former zoo owner (pictured Carole Baskin)
Dillion said: ‘When I met Joe I was in a dark place, he kept me away from the negative aspects and people and he was lonely and needed a companion.
‘Initially it was companionship, he needed company and I needed someone to keep me away from the bad things.’
Tiger King tells the story of a zoo owner, [Joe], who spirals out of control amid a cast of eccentric characters in the true murder-for-hire story from the underworld of big cat breeding.
While Joe reportedly loves the docuseries, and the fame it’s brought him, his nemesis Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole has been receiving death threats over the allegations she murdered her millionaire first husband Don Lewis, who went missing in 1997.
Meanwhile, on Sunday Netflix released Tiger King bonus episode titled ‘The Tiger King and I,’ which reunited eight people featured in its No. 1 docuseries.
The biggest revelation was when TV producer Rick Kirkham told host Joel McHale that former GW zoo owner Joe is actually ‘terrified of big cats.’
He said: ‘I don’t think you can say anyone is doing good if they’re in jail, but we’re doing our best. We’ve got an appeal coming up, which could take around a year’