Miranda Lambert never thought that a few photos with Tiger King star Joe Exotic would put her in hot water and her animal welfare advocacy will be questioned. The country singer cleared the air after she was slammed on social media for her photos with the former zoo operator and convicted felon.
Lambert posted on social media three throwback photos of her and Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, that were taken in 2017. In the snaps, Blake Shelton's ex-wife was seen with Joe's ex-husband John Finlay and his former staff member, Kelci "Saff" Saffery. Miranda also used the hashtag #WayTooPrettyForPrison which is the title of her song with Maren Morris.
At the time that photo was taken, Joe owned and operated an Oklahoma zoo specializing in big cats. It was a year before he was arrested for attempting to hire someone to murder his arch-nemesis, fellow big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin.
In April 2019, Joe was convicted on two counts of murder for hire, eight violations of the Lacey Act, and nine violations of the Endangered Species Act. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Lambert was slammed by netizens for posing with a convicted animal abuser and took more heat for sharing the pictures considering the singer is known to be an animal lover.
Many were wondering why Lambert would share such photos with Joe Exotic after many were horrified on how the zookeeper abused and exploit wild animals in Netflix's Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. Fans expressed their disappointment with Lambert's action.
"That's not a pic I would be proud of let alone post on social media. Very disappointed," one wrote. "Imagine thinking 'hey check this topical pic I took with that guy who is super famous right now, years ago back before all the bad shit came out" was an 'endorsement'," another added.
In response to the backlash, "The House That Built Me" singer posted a follow-up tweet explaining the reason why and how she met Joe Exotic. Apparently, after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, her MuttNation foundation traveled to Houston to help relocate shelter dogs to free up shelter space for animals that were separated by their owners during the hurricane.
Her foundation, which promotes the adoption of shelter dogs, asked for volunteers who could transport the dogs from Houston to shelters in Oklahoma. She said a guy named Joe volunteered his trailer and staff but she never visited his zoo.
Miranda added that she didn't know that man, who is now known as Joe Exotic, had tigers. The singer reiterated that she never condone animal abuse.
