Tiger King

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 89% based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 7.88/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A bizarre true crime story you have to see to believe, Tiger King is a messy and captivating portrait of obsession gone terribly wrong."[9] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score to reviews from mainstream publications, the series has an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]

Variety magazine's Caroline Framke called the series "messy yet compelling" and that for "those who love Netflix's particular flavor of true crime and docuseries, [...] Tiger King will undoubtedly scratch a particular itch."[11] Joshua Rivera at The Verge said that "[e]very minute of Tiger King yields some new surprise, an unbelievable turn or charismatic stranger with incredible stories to tell."[12]

According to Nielsen, the series was watched by 34.3 million people over its first 10 days of release, ranking as one of Netflix's most successful releases to date.[13] It has been suggested that its viewership success was aided by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many global viewers to be restricted to their homes around the time of its release.[14] At their Q2 report meeting in July 2020, Netflix reported the series had been viewed by 64 million households over its first month of release.[15]

At an April press conference regarding COVID-19, then-U.S. President Donald Trump was questioned about the possibility of pardoning the series' key subject, Joe Exotic. In January 2021, prior to the Inauguration of Joe Biden, Trump pardoned several different people, but Exotic wasn't one of them. Exotic tweeted that he was "too innocent and too gay" to receive a pardon from Trump.[16][17][18]

Animal welfare groups, conservation organizations and wildlife biologists have criticized the series and its filmmakers.[19][20][4][5][21][6]

Several conservation and animal rights groups criticized the filmmakers for framing private big cat breeding as a legitimate form of conservation. Representatives from Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wide Fund for Nature, Panthera Corporation and National Geographic criticized the show for its equivocation of the unregulated private breeding with captive breeding for species reintroduction, highlighting that the latter is strictly controlled by the Species Survival Plan and only takes place in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.[6][5] Privately bred cats cannot be reintroduced to the wild as several of the private breeders interviewed suggested, as they would be unlikely to survive in the wild, and are likely hybrids which could cause genetic pollution.[5][19][6]

The filmmakers were also criticized for implying that roadside zoo operations are as legitimate as accredited zoos, and Big Cat Rescue specifically. The series and director have suggested Big Cat Rescue's enclosures are small or do not meet ethical standards,[22] but their facilities meet humane standards set out by Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.[4] Elle noted that Baskin was portrayed as hypocritical for keeping the tigers in captivity instead of releasing them, without explaining that doing so was not an option—being captive-bred from mixed stock, as well as in-effect domesticated, meant they were unsuited to either survive in the wild or rebuild regional populations. Michael Webber, director of The Elephant in the Living Room, also criticized the parallels drawn between the private zoos and Big Cat Rescue.[4] The series was also accused of minimizing Baskin's efforts to lobby Congress for stricter legislation on animal trafficking.[23]

"Goode brings to Tiger King the intellectual rigor and social responsibility of ... a nightclub and hotel developer", Peter Frick-Wright, who had produced Cat People, a podcast series covering the American big-cat industry, wrote in Outside. He found the series particularly unfair to Baskin, pointing out that in focusing on her husband's disappearance so much it failed to distinguish her from Exotic and Antle, barely mentioning that Big Cat Rescue only accepts tigers confiscated by law enforcement or from owners who could no longer handle them—owners who had to sign a contract with heavy financial penalties if they owned another big cat or were even photographed with one, a proviso not mentioned in the series. Baskin also forbids volunteers or staff from touching the animals; they are fired for doing so, Frick-Wright wrote.[23]

Others criticized the sympathetic portrayal of Joe Exotic. The director of Animals Asia Foundation expressed disappointment that the Netflix series "does not fully condemn many of the activities that [Exotic] was involved with" and criticized the filmmakers for downplaying the animal cruelty and commercial purposes of Exotic's zoo.[21] Conversely, Baskin is the only source in the series from the conservation sector, and the only source explaining why keeping the wild animals was abusive, but is depicted in an unsympathetic light.[24][19][23]

Some criticism noted the lack of clear environmental or conservation message. An article in The New York Times drew parallels with other recent wildlife films like Blackfish, which had a major impact on their subject matter. Blackfish led to a severe drop in ticket sales at SeaWorld and reduced support for cetaceans in captivity, eventually leading to changes in legislation and practices. The producer of Blackfish criticized Tiger King, saying that issues surrounding big cats were "lost in the show’s 'soap opera-esque drama'". Karl Ammann, a photographer and documentarian specializing in the illegal wildlife trade who was approached to be interviewed by the filmmakers of Tiger King, similarly expressed disappointment at the lack of conservation message in the series, saying "to totally ignore such key aspects was a real missed opportunity".[4]

PETA and the Humane Society of the United States, both of which had previously investigated and campaigned against the animal abuse of Exotic and other private breeders featured in the show, responded more positively to Tiger King for raising the profile of the issue of big cats in captivity.[25][26] However, PETA noted the series "largely skips over serious issues of animal welfare, including the horrors of cub trafficking and the problems with commercial cub-petting attractions".[26]

The Independent's Kathleen Walsh posited that the show's treatment of, and the public reaction to, Baskin has been misogynistic: "The series provides example after example of Exotic's violence, cruelty, and narcissism, while the evidence against Baskin (compelling enough as it is framed in the series) is circumstantial. Maybe Baskin did kill her husband—and the third episode of the series is devoted to the evidence pointing to this conclusion—but so far there is little more than speculation to say that she did. Meanwhile, the series shows clips from Exotic's erstwhile YouTube series in which he poses alongside a blow-up doll, Baskin in effigy, shoving a dildo into its mouth and shooting it in the head."[27]

As a result of the show, multiple sportspeople who had previously owned exotic pets were questioned about their actions.[29] Retired boxer Mike Tyson said that he was "foolish" and "wrong" to have kept two tigers in his home in the 1990s.[30] Retired professional basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, who appears in the show saying he bought two tigers from Joe Exotic, said in an interview after the show's release that he had "never had any business dealings with him".[31]

As a result of Tiger King, several Internet memes targeted Carole Baskin for her speculated involvement in the disappearance of Don Lewis, her second husband.[32]

Carole Baskin and her husband felt betrayed by filmmakers, stating she was told the discussion of Joe Exotic and Baskin's missing husband were just for context.[33] In a post on the Big Cat Rescue website, Baskin said that the show "has a segment [in the third episode] devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don 21 years ago" and that the series "presents this without any regard for the truth".[34] Baskin has never been charged with anything related to Don's disappearance and has always denied having anything to do with it.[35] In partial response to Baskin, director Goode stated while he felt Baskin had the right intention, he questioned if "it was fair to keep these tigers in cages", adding that the tigers "pace neurotically" and that "Sometimes you wonder whether or not one should humanely euthanize these cats instead of [letting them] suffer in cages".[22] Baskin preemptively answered that "... our goal is to end having them in cages and have no need for a sanctuary like ours. Our federal bill, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, would stop the cub petting that drives the breeding and end ownership as pets in back yards."[22] Goode and Chaiklin said that Baskin "wasn't coerced" to answer questions about her husband.[36]

Hawaii-born Saffery, a veteran who served in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, worked as a manager for Joe Exotic's Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park for almost ten years. In 2013, the then-27 year old was bitten by one of the tigers as he mistakenly put his arm into its cage, and opted to have an amputation of his left forearm and return to work within a week, instead of undergoing a two-year series of surgeries. He is hoping to get a prosthetic, as of March 2020.[37] In 2018, Saffery disconnected from the zoo and everyone involved.[38]

Following the release of the Netflix series, Robert Moor, the creator of an earlier podcast about Joe Exotic, posted a tweet stating "Saff, the person who got mauled by the tiger, told me repeatedly that he is trans, prefers to be called Saff, and uses he/him pronouns. So please do likewise."[39] Media outlets criticized the series for misgendering and deadnaming Saffery.[40][24][41] LGBTQ Nation contrasted Netflix's treatment of Saffery with their recent collaboration with GLAAD, an LGBTQ media watchdog group, on a campaign raising "transgender visibility in the entertainment industry".[42] Saffery clarified to Esquire,

On a daily basis, I am called 17 different things. I never really took it to heart. [...] [F]or context, my conversation with Rob was that he asked me, 'What do you prefer? Saff or Kelci?' And of course, I said Saff because that’s what I've been called for the past 20 years. I was in the Army prior to the park and they always use last names. So, Saff was my preferred name. And I've always gone by him since I could say that out loud. My family was always very supportive—it was never an issue.[39]

Regarding whether he identified as a trans man, Saffery stated to Out magazine, "I don't know that that describes me. You know, nothing was done. I really just have lived this lifestyle. And, you know, my family knows this. And obviously, people closest to me know. This is how I've lived my entire life. I don't know anything else."[40]