Tiger King: Jeff Lowe Says Filmmakers Turned Him Into the Villain

Tiger King‘s new episode on Netflix has everyone talking and Jeff Lowe says that he was unfairly treated in the docu-series. He claims that the filmmakers turned him into the villain of the story because it’s convenient for the narrative that they were trying to push. Joel McHale hosted Tiger King and I, a sort of reunion special that served to bookend the first batch of episodes. Lowe was subject to some light ribbing at his expense (the segment took a lot of time to joke about his maid). But, he actually sounds like he’s made some peace with being the bad guy in the minds of so many viewers.

“No, I mean, I think they tried to sensationalize the story a little bit to give it a villain. And the villain is right here,” Lowe began. “All these guys come to me when they’re in trouble, like Joe. And then as soon as I help them, and I no longer help them, then they turn on me. You know what, I’m getting used to it.”

Well, not all of the people featured feel that way. Josh Dial was Joe Exotic’s presidential campaign manager and he argued that the program was “fair and balanced” in its treatment of him. He makes no effort to hid that some of the thing that the Internet sensation did back the were screwed up and needed to be called out. He told McHale about it as well.

“When the folks first started filming Joe, I was already working for Joe,” he stated. “So, I’ve known the producer and directors since day one. The way they did this documentary, it’s fair, it’s balanced and I just think it’s a wonderful production.” Dial would go on to disagree with Jeff Lowe’s reservations when it came to the composition of the show. The campaign manager said, “Well, the truth hurts. The truth hurts.”

In another recent interview with THR, the creators of the doc, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaikin, stressed that there were really no heroes here.

“I would say it’s very important for people to know this that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of empathy for [Joe’s current husband] Dillon. We had empathy for Joe, but Joe did a lot of horrible things,” Goode added. “Joe committed some really serious crimes and Joe was not only cruel and inhumane to his animals, he was cruel to the people around him. I think it’s very important for people to understand that Joe is an actor and he tells people what they want to hear. As much as we have some empathy for Joe and found Joe to be such an incredible character — this mullet-wearing country singer in Oklahoma — he did a lot of horrible things.”

The Tiger King and I (and Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness) are now streaming on Netflix.