Kate McKinnon set to star in TV series based on ‘Joe Exotic’ case

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A bizarre murder-for-hire plot in Oklahoma is now being turned into a television series.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the new series is based on the podcast ‘Joe Exotic,’ which centers around the ‘tiger king’ who was convicted of trying to hire hitmen to kill a rival.

In 2018, Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as “Joe Exotic” and former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Animal Park, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of murder-for-hire.

Prosecutors say Maldonado-Passage gave a person $3,000 to travel from Oklahoma to Florida to carry out the murder of a Florida woman and “allegedly agreed to pay thousands more after the deed,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Joseph Maldonado-Passage

A grand jury also indicted Maldonado-Passage on an additional 19 counts of wildlife charges, including the violation of the Endangered Species Act and Lacey Act. Prosecutors say he shot and killed five tigers in October 2017 to make room in cages for other big cats, and sold tiger cubs. He was also accused of falsifying records relating to the tigers, lions and a baby lemur which were purportedly being donated or transported for exhibition, but were actually sold.

Officials offered evidence in the form of recordings of Maldonado-Passage negotiating the hiring of the undercover FBI agent, who was posing as a hitman. When talking about payment, Maldonado-Passage reportedly said, “I’ll just sell a bunch of tigers.”

The intended target of the hit was Carole Baskin, a chief critic of Maldonado-Passage. Baskin successfully sued Maldonado-Passage for trademark infringement in 2011, and was outspoken about the treatment of animals at the park.

The defense claimed their client was framed. They say he was all talk and had no intention of wanting Baskin dead.

The former Greater Wynnewood Animal Park owner was found guilty on all 19 counts earlier this year.

Now, a Hollywood star is expected to bring the case to the small screen.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that Kate McKinnon will star in the 'Joe Exotic' series as Carole Baskin. The report claims that the project is still in the early stages of development, but that Universal Content Productions is teaming up with Wondery to create the show.