The star of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, would have you believe he was a country music star. Many of Maldonado-Passage’s eccentric music videos are highlighted throughout the seven-part docuseries. 
In some of his videos, Maldonado-Passage is pictured wearing priest attire. Here’s why Maldonado-Passage decided to dress like a priest. 

Joe Exotic | ‘Here Kitty Kitty’ YouTube
Joe Exotic’s country music career 
Maldonado-Passage was a man with several interests, including country music. Thanks to Netflix, his most famous songs include “I Saw a Tiger,” an ode to his life passion, and “Here Kitty Kitty,” a song about Carole Baskin and how she presumably fed her missing husband, Don Lewis, to tigers. 
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Maldonado-Passage may have come up with the ideas for his songs, but musicians Vince Johnson and Danny Clinton are responsible for the music and lyrics. Better known as the Clinton Johnson Band, both artists are listed in the credits of the Netflix series. 
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Tiger King creators Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin explained how Maldonado-Passage’s vocals were featured on certain songs. The duo struggled to determine which songs Maldonado-Passage was featured on, but admitted that a fact-checker told them Exotic could be heard singing on individual tracks. 
Goode also mentioned a deleted scene from Tiger King, where Maldonado-Passage commented: “Of course not every singer sings all his songs, that’s just how it’s done.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Maldonado-Passage believed anyone could be both a musician and a singer but never actually sing.
Why Joe Exotic dressed as a priest 
Mateusz Gugałka, who produced some of Maldonado-Passage’s music videos, told Vanity Fair that Maldonado-Passage was insistent on writing and recording videos for his music.
At 22-years-old, Gugałka started working for Maldonado-Passage after moving to the U.S. from Poland. Gugałka recalled how Maldonado-Passage “would not give [him] any notice about shooting music videos.” Instead, Gugałka said:

[Maldonado-Passage] would just wake up one morning sometimes…and say, ‘We’re going to shoot a music video today, because I had a dream, pretty much, of how I want it to look.’ Then he would show up dressed like a priest.
Mateusz Gugałka, Vanity Fair
It was Gugałka’s understanding that the “Tiger King” was “trying to start his own church at the zoo.” Gugałka didn’t know if Maldonado-Passage wanted to do so for tax reasons or he simply wanted to marry people.
Music videos featuring Joe Exotic in priestly attire
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In the video for “Here Kitty Kitty,” Maldonado-Passage is wearing a clerical collar. Maldonado-Passage is also seen in his priestly attire holding a newborn in the music video for “Guardians of Children” — a tune about the “bikers who protect abused children in our country.” 
Recording music videos wasn’t the only time Maldonado-Passage wore his priest look. During the docuseries, Maldonado-Passage can be seen dressed as a priest leading his husband Travis Maldonado’s funeral service.
Maldonado met his tragic end with an accidental suicide. Tiger King explained how Maldonado removed the magazine from a pistol to show that it wouldn’t fire without it, despite having bullets in the chamber.
It may be some time before Maldonado-Passage gets to fulfill his dream and start his own church. The 57-year-old was sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing tigers and the infamous murder-for-hire plot to kill Baskin.
Related: No, Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic Didn’t Record the Vocals for His Country Songs

Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Madness, and Mayhem tells the tale of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic. The seven-part docuseries captured the many people involved in Maldonado-Passage’s story, including the iconic reality television producer, Rick Kirkham. 
As a well-known producer, Kirkham linked up with Maldonado-Passage in the hopes of making a reality show about the “Tiger King.” Kirkham took up residency at Maldonado-Passage’s G.W. Zoo, where he witnessed all of the insanity that happened there. 
Before seeking out big cat lover Maldonado-Passage, Kirkham had a wildly successful career as a reality television star himself. 

Rick Kirkham | J. Vespa/WireImage
Who is Rick Kirkham?
According to an ABC News profile, Kirkham received his first camera when he was 14-years-old. He would later use that camera to capture “a video diary of [his] life as he talked intimately about his addiction, his guilt and the love of his two boys, which would ultimately save him from self-destruction.”
Before he became addicted to drugs, Kirkham was a dancer on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. According to his LinkedIn profile, Kirkham obtained a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1981. Later, he became a crime reporter in Las Vegas for an NBC affiliate. 
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His days as a crime reporter are where Kirkham earned his place in the spotlight. Accompanying police on drug busts, Kirkham got to carry a gun and wear a bulletproof vest. Ironically, it was during this time Kirkham became addicted to crack cocaine.
Later, Kirkham started working for Inside Edition, where he became known for his willingness to participate in wild stunts like setting himself on fire (as seen in Tiger King). In 1996, Kirkham was fired from Inside Edition because of his addiction. 
Rick Kirkham attempted suicide 
When Kirkham lost his job, he lost his family and almost lost his life, too. Per Oxygen, Kirkham attempted suicide by taking 100 pills and drinking two beers while driving his Jeep, recording his every move. After surviving a near-fatal car accident, Kirkham decided to turn his life around for his two sons. 
A filmmaker, Kirkham recorded much of his addiction on camera. He took “over 46 boxes of film and 3,200 videotapes” of footage and had them made into the documentary T.V. Junkie, which was later used in schools to teach kids about the dangers of drug addiction. 
After getting sober, Kirkham started working as a producer for RealReels. He also briefly worked for KFBB-TV in Montana as a news director before meeting Maldonado-Passage. 
Why did Rick Kirkham want to work on ‘Tiger King’?
Kirkham sought to capitalize on the unusual nature that “Joe Exotic” exuded by filming his every move and turning it into a reality television show. 
In an interview with Extra TV, Kirkham conceded that being on camera was like a drug to Maldonado-Passage, which made for good reality television. 
Kirkham also described the footage he captured that was later famously burned, per the Netflix series: “If I were to let the video out that I have shot of [Maldonado-Passage] killing animals on this park, of [Maldonado-Passage] tricking people by taking in their animals, [Maldonado-Passage] would probably go to jail.” 
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In that same interview, Kirkham shared that Maldonado-Passage was a “very evil guy to the animals and the people” that worked for him.
What does Rick Kirkham do now? 
Kirkham has experienced something of a resurgence in the news since the Tiger King docuseries aired. Despite Kirkham’s original footage being destroyed, his truth was exposed thanks to his feature in the documentary. 
According to Kirkham’s Facebook profile, he is currently living in Bodo, Norway, where he works as a freelance reporter for RealReels. Kirkham married his girlfriend Kristin E Rosøy Kirkham in April 2018.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
 How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

The Netflix docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is all anyone can talk about right now. Netflix couldn’t have picked a better time to release the series, considering everyone is home and practicing social distancing. 
Tiger King showcases the dark world of big cat “conservation” in the United States with a focus on the G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma, Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina, and Big Cat Rescue just outside of Tampa in Florida. 
The cast of wacky characters in Tiger King are enough to captivate any audience, but it’s the way each of these character’s stories intertwine that make the series truly binge-worthy.
Since watching the seven-part series, Tiger King fans are eager to learn more. The creators of the series say that just might happen! 

Joe Exotic – Tiger King | Netflix
The story of the ‘Tiger King’ 
Tiger King follows Joe “Exotic” Maldonado-Passage (nee: Schreibvogel), owner of the G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma, and big cat fanatic. In his quest for fame and success, Joe Exotic takes on several business ventures, including becoming a country singer, reality television personality, and tiger cub breeder. The series also highlighted when Exotic running for president in 2016, and then governor of Oklahoma when that fell through. 

Joe Exotic isn’t the only interesting character Tiger King featured. Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, the owner of Myrtle Beach Safari, was also involved in the series. Then there was Carol Baskins — Joe Exotic’s arch-nemesis and owner of Big Cat Rescue near Tampa, Florida. The series captured Exotic’s focus as it slowly became less about caring for wild animals and more about taking down Baskins.  
People still have so many questions about what happened in ‘Tiger King’ 
Tiger King took the world by storm. After binge-watching the seven-part docuseries that features country music, polygamy, drugs, a missing person, murder-for-hire, and possible cult activity, people still have several unanswered questions about Joe Exotic and his motley crew. 

For example, is Joe Exotic going to shift his focus to prison reform, a la Kim Kardashian West?
Why wasn’t Jeff Lowe scrutinized for his involvement in the murder-for-hire plot? Did Lowe ever open the new zoo in Thackerville, Oklahoma?
Most importantly, are the lions and tigers and bears okay?
There might be a follow up to ‘Tiger King’ 
Tiger King fans are eager to hear more from Joe Exotic and the rest of the big cat world. The producers of the show have hinted that there could be a second season in the works.
Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin spoke with Entertainment Weekly, where Chaiklin revealed that the story was “To be continued.” She explained that they still “have a crazy amount of footage, and it’s a story that’s still unfolding.”

What will the second season of Tiger King look like? Chaiklin isn’t sure, adding “there could be a follow-up on this story because there’s a lot that’s still unfolding in it, and it’ll be just as dramatic and just as colorful as what has unfolded these past few years.”
Another season of Tiger King has yet to be confirmed, but fans are hopeful that it will happen given what the producers have teased.