'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic is in coronavirus isolation in jail, husband confirms

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Tiger King star Joe Exotic - real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage - has been placed in coronavirus isolation following a transfer from a previous prison that had suffered from an outbreak of COVID-19, his husband has confirmed.

The announcement was made on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM show, where Dillon Passage revealed to the hosts that Passage has entered "a COVID-19 isolation" while serving his 22-year sentence.

OJ Simpson says there's "no Doubt" Tiger King star Carole Baskin killed her husband:

Dillon said: "We speak like three to five times every day, but since he's been moved to this new facility, they are putting him on COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases. I've yet to speak to him since he moved."

When asked if 57-year-old Joseph was being quarantined individually, Dillon said: "From what I know, yes."

Dillion denied that Exotic himself has contracted the virus.

The Tiger King with his tigers.
Credit: 1466

Dillon, 24, also addressed the status of his relationship with his incarcerated husband, saying that he is "still" in love with him.

"I do love Joe," he said. "He's been there for me through my darkest times and I'm not just gonna dip out and abandon him when he needs me most."

Dillon is Joseph's fourth husband and featured briefly in the Netflix docuseries, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

The popular series follows Joe Exotic's life as a zookeeper, country musician, aspiring politician, and arch-rival of fellow tiger enthusiast and Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin.

In January 2020, the 57-year-old was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot on rival Carole Baskin, and animal abuse - including charges detailing that he killed five of his own tigers - violating the Endangered Species Act.

People reports that Maldonado-Passage has since filed a $94 million lawsuit, which he announced on his Facebook page last month.

In the suit, he is demanding a combined $94 million from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, his former business partner Jeff Lowe, and several former colleagues.

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Not only this, but as part of the lawsuit, the Tiger King has asked for a presidential pardon.

At the time of writing, the novel coronavirus has claimed 48,320 lives globally, per the John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.