Bengals: "Tiger King" Joe Maldonado sends crazed letter to Joe Burrow for help from prison
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been sent a letter by Joe Maldonado, aka the "Tiger King" and "Joe Exotic," pleading him to donate $20,000 to help Maldonado be released from federal prison. Maldonado claims Burrow has been using his moniker "Tiger King," which he also claims is trademarked and intellectual property, and is leveraging that […]
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been sent a letter by Joe Maldonado, aka the "Tiger King" and "Joe Exotic," pleading him to donate $20,000 to help Maldonado be released from federal prison.
Maldonado claims Burrow has been using his moniker "Tiger King," which he also claims is trademarked and intellectual property, and is leveraging that insinuation to get Burrow to help him out. The cherry on top is him misspelling Burrow's name in the header.
Yep, totally normal behavior. Nothing to see here.
Maldonado, the infamous titular subject of the successful Netflix documentary Tiger King, was convicted and sentenced in 2019 to serve 22 years in prison on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire for the plot to kill Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin.
The documentary released in 2020 right after Burrow finished his historic 2019 season for the LSU Tigers and was set to become the next QB of the Bengals. The timing made it natural for some fans to nickname him the "Tiger King," but Burrow himself has never embraced that nickname, or used it like Maldonado claims he has.
"I don't like that one that much," Burrow said of the Tiger King nickname in an interview last year. "I don't like that show, because I don't like seeing animals in cages. I don't. I don't really like that. And so I didn't see the show, so I don't like that."
Whoops.
"I see the news magazines as well as yourself calling you the Tiger King everyone in the world is exploiting me and my trademarks why sit innocent in an American Federal Prison. I’ve been the Tiger King before you got out of high school. Tiger King is my trademark and intellectual property. My life has been destroyed. My parents have died and I continue to fight cancer and 2 incurable diseases while you all ride and attention off my life’s hard work.
"Since everyone is enjoying the fame of being the Tiger King and I’m suffering wrongfully in prison in a cage, how about doing a good deed and helping me raise $20,000 for a down payment to hire attorneys? Maybe paying it forward, God might help you get to the Super Bowl this year and I can go home for Christmas. Then we can work together to stop animals from being in a cage." – Joe Maldonado's letter to Joe Burrow
Regardless of Maldonado's remaining levels of sanity in prison, Burrow has slightly more important things to focus on right now. The original Tiger King will have to look elsewhere for help.
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Featured image via © Nate Billings/The Oklahoman via the USA TODAY Network via Imagn Content Services, LLC
