Does ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic Have Coronavirus?







The Netflix documentary subject was put in isolation after he supposedly came in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.







































							Mostly False
['Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic of "Tiger King," has COVID-19 coronavirus disease.', 'Joe Exotic was put into isolation after another prisoner tested positive for COVID-19.', 'As of this writing, Exotic has not tested positive for COVID-19.', 'On April 2, 2020, reports circulated on social media that Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic from the Netflix documentary “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” had contracted COVID-19 coronavirus disease while in prison.', 'The Mirror, for instance, published an article entitled: “Netflix’s Tiger King star Joe Exotic hospitalised after contracting coronavirus in prison.”', '', 'This report was not accurate.', 'The Mirror later updated its headline so it made a less definitive claim, writing that Exotic could have contracted the virus, but was not officially diagnosed with disease.', 'This rumor started after Exotic was moved to the Fort Worth Federal Medical Center. Dillon Passage, Exotic’s husband, told radio host Andy Cohen that Exotic had been put into isolation at the new facility after someone at the jail where he was previously held had tested positive for COVID-19.', 'Passage said, “We speak like three to five times every day, but [not] since he’s been moved to this new facility; they are putting him on a COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases.”', 'Passage did not say that Exotic himself had tested positive for the disease, only that he was put into quarantine after another prisoner had contracted the disease.', 'You can watch Passage’s interview below:', 'The Facebook page for Exotic posted the following message:', 'Joe DOES NOT have the COVID-19 virus, he’s in a 14-day quarantine because he was transferred from another facility.', 'Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison for animal abuse charges and for his involvement in a murder-for-hire scheme.', 'As of this writing, Exotic has not been officially diagnosed with COVID-19.', 'Madani, Doha. \xa0 “Wildlife Park Owner ‘Joe Exotic’ Sentenced to 22 Years in Plot to Kill Animal Rights Activist.”\n\xa0 \xa0 NBC News. \xa0 22 January 2020.', 'Sulway, Verity. \xa0 “Tiger King’s Joe Exotic Hospitalised and Could Have Caught Coronavirus in Prison.”\n\xa0 \xa0 The Mirror. \xa0 2 April 2020.', 'Sulway, Verity. \xa0 “‘Netflix’s Tiger King Star Joe Exotic Hospitalised After Contracting Coronavirus in Prison.”\n\xa0 \xa0 The Mirror. \xa0 2 April 2020.', 'Spencer, Samuel. \xa0 “‘Tiger King’ On Netflix: Does Joe Exotic Have Coronavirus?”\n\xa0 \xa0 Newsweek. \xa0 3 April 2020.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', 'A complete story is rarely told in a headline.', 'Social media rumors that two memorials in New York were vandalized proved misleading.', 'In August 2019, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man died after an encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado.', 'A chaotic scene in St. Louis sparked outrage, memes, and confusion.', 'Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on sex abuse charges connected to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.', 'The white supremacist group made frequent use of the slogan more recently embraced by President Donald Trump, though they did not, as some claim, invent it.', "The question of past arrests often surfaces among people who want to rationalize police officers' actions when Black men are killed in custody.", 'You can claim anything if you remove the barrier of evidence.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', '© 1995 - 2020 by Snopes Media Group Inc.', 'This material may not be reproduced without permission.', 'Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com']
Does 'Tiger King' Joe Exotic Have Coronavirus?