Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for April 29
Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment.
Joe Exotic is still making headlines from behind prison walls and is calling for President Joe Biden to undo what he says is a "kidnapping" by the Department of Justice "for political agenda."
The "Tiger King" star’s diatribe came on Thursday when Exotic – real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage – spoke via prison phone in audio obtained by Fox News to accept an honor for "Tiger King" which won the Social Media Superstar Award in the Entertainment Category – beating Disney’s "The Mandalorian," "Bridgerton," Warner Brothers' "Wonder Woman," and Warner Music's "Dua Lipa 2054" event.
"I would like to say thank you for this award and thank you to the millions of people around the world who saw through the editing, the agenda and the paid interviews to see the real Joe Exotic – the real guy who has compassion and love for his animals, for the homeless and for the sick, but most of all, for humanity as a whole," Exotic began in a nearly three-minute phone speech. It was only the second time Exotic has ever spoken from prison.
"What has been done to me puts a black cloud over our entire justice system in America," he continued. "And our leaders of this great country should be ashamed that our own Department of Justice can take part in kidnapping me for political agenda to only end big cats in America."
'TIGER KING' STAR JOE EXOTIC ACCEPTS CAROLE BASKIN'S OFFER TO HELP HIM GET OUT OF PRISON
Joe Exotic pleaded top Joe Biden to pardon him from prison. (Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images)
Exotic, 58, was convicted on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire in his plot to kill his arch-nemesis and Big Cat Rescue owner, Carole Baskin, in 2019 for which he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Through his time in prison, Exotic said he’s now navigating his life with a new sense of purpose, which includes advocating for issues centered on prison reform, sex trafficking among the Asian population and "to make children around the world smile that are born with cleft palates and a face of life of only being bullied and teased."
'TIGER KING' STAR JOE EXOTIC'S ATTORNEYS TO SEEK NEW TRIAL
"I intend to use my new platform to speak for justice and prison reform and speak for the thousands of men and women in this country who have been wrongfully convicted or over-sentenced in this country for simply no reason other than for profit," Exotic orated before calling on the nation’s current president to take action on his case – and by action, Exotic pleaded with Biden to let him out of prison.
"The conspiracy and the obstruction of justice in my case by the US attorneys and federal agents and their witnesses is something only President Biden can make right by seeing the truth, looking at the evidence and listening to my attorneys and then signing my pardon and appointing someone honest within the FBI to help me stop the more than 75 young Asian girls from being trafficked for sex by the people who set me up to shut me up and put me here and all ignored by who we expect to search for justice, the US attorney's office of this country and federal agents," Exotic pressed, rarely stopping for air as his phone time was likely limited.
Joe Exotic, right, was convicted on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire in his plot to kill his arch-nemesis and Big Cat Rescue owner, Carole Baskin in 2019 for which he was sentenced to 22 years in prison. (Netflix)
Exotic also thanked his husband, Dillon Passage, for "standing by me to support me during this difficult journey to just prove I am innocent."
The reality star also didn’t mince words in thanking the "millions of fans around the globe" who "kept my name alive in the name of justice" and issued a stout message to "all of the people in the streets of America trying to end racism."
"Slavery is very much alive in America, folks," Exotic said in his phone call, adding, "it is camouflaged by prison walls."
"The colored and the poor cannot afford a defense and are being kidnapped to work for nine dollars a month for political gain, whether for money, a promotion or a resume to future their career" Exotic continued. "We the people are the pawns in a political war for the rich and the elite and I need your voice to help me make it stop."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Over one million families are forced into poverty only because loved ones are spending a quarter of their lives in prison for nonviolent crimes or no crime at all," he maintained before issuing a plea to the White House for his release.
"Please ask President Biden to make history and sign every pardon on his desk and every compassionate release at the beginning of this term, not at the end," said Exotic.
Trending
