Louis Theroux discovers ‘extraordinary’ Joe Exotic revelation in old documentary footage

Theroux is releasing a new documentary about the Tiger King star after first meeting him for his BBC programme, America’s Most Dangerous pets

Louis Theroux has revealed he has uncovered previously unused footage from his interview with Joe Exotic that includes a “seemingly veiled threat” to do harm to his rival Carole Baskin.

The British documentary maker is returning to the subject of the Tiger King star for a new project with the BBC, which has the working title: Louis Theroux: The Cult of Joe Exotic.

Theroux first encountered the eccentric exotic animal owner in an interview for his 2011 BBC documentary, America’s Most Dangerous Pets, years before Exotic became world-famous for Netflix’s series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Theroux discussed how he has since discovered moments from his archive interviews with Exotic that have never been seen before.

In one, he found a “seemingly veiled threat to do [Big Cat Rescue boss] Carole harm”, which Theroux said he had “no recollection of”.

“I thought, that’s extraordinary, here’s Joe saying that, ‘Someone’s in touch with a hitman in Tampa Florida and either Carole is going to be killed or Joe is going to be killed.’”

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“I thought that was really odd, and then I had to listen to it a few times to really get exactly what he’s saying,” Theroux continued.

“He’s not saying, “I’m Joe, I’m gonna have Carole killed,” he’s just suggesting that. So it’s both sorts of everything and nothing in an odd way and I think more than anything, it sort of is a description of the febrile mindset that Joe was slipping into.”

Exotic is currently in prison after being convicted on a number of charges, including a murder-for-hire plot against Baskin.

Speaking to the Press Association, Theroux said he hoped his new documentary would show both Baskin and Exotic as real people, as he believed many fans viewed them as “fictional”.

Carole Baskin, seen here in the Netflix docuseries ‘Tiger King' (Netflix)

“It's an extraordinary situation Joe is in now. He's one of the most famous people in the world, arguably,” he said.

“He's an internet icon. Carole is also extremely famous. I think that's testament to the series and also lockdown and the collective madness of that period of time.”

He said he wanted his programme to present something “closer to the truth and less caricature-ish”, after setting out “to understand who the real Joe Exotic is”.