The personalities in Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness have become the most unlikely of celebrities, as millions of Netflix users have turned the seven-episode documentary series into the “most popular current TV show.” And as their profiles grow, people are beginning to realize that Carole Baskin, Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage (Joe Exotic), and Mahamayavi Bhagavan Kevin Antle (Doc Antle) have been in our lives much longer than anyone realized. Does anyone in this photo look familiar to you?
That’s not Danzig feeding a tiger behind Britney Spears — it’s Doc Antle, who runs the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He was on stage with the pop star during her memorable performance of “I’m a Slave 4 U” at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, the same ceremony that had Mark Wahlberg and DMX introducing Staind and “Lady Marmalade” winning Video of the Year over “Weapon of Choice,” which is nuts. But I digress. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look.
All these years, we’ve been focusing on the snake when a freaking tiger was right there. “There was also a tiger — an adult tiger — in that performance, and that was the big deal, even though it wasn’t featured as much in the show,” snake trainer Mike Hano told MTV in 2016. “Britney didn’t have to handle that thing like she did the snake, but in some ways, that was really a bigger deal for me.” In that same article, Antle revealed that the “rare golden tabby tiger” on stage with Britney has sadly since passed away.
You know who was also there? Carole. The Tiger King cast is like Forrest Gump.
(Via Huffington Post)