JOE Exotic's former producer has claimed the Tiger King star was 'terrified' of his big cats and 'freaked out over a peacock.'
Rick Kirkman has lifted the lid on what it was really like working with the star – real name Joseph Allen Schreibvogel – when they were filming for his reality television show – admitting that he was actually really scared of the animals he looked after at GW Zoo.
He told Metro.co.uk: "A lot of what was missed was the Joe who was off camera, Joe Schreibvogel not Joe Exotic.
"Joe Schreibvogel was a much weaker person, much more fearful of the animals than what they portray on Netflix.
"When you see Joe in a cage with a tiger, the tiger was either blind or it was sedated. He was terrified of these tigers. He was scared of all the animals.
"I remember a peacock landing on him and he freaked out. He broke its neck and fed it to the tigers."
The zoo keeper also had no issues with kicking or shooting his animals in front of him.
Rick added: "He was just as evil as he was when they had the cameras rolling. He did not care about people, he did not care about animals.
"I can tell you numerous occasions when we’d be filming something where he’s hugging a tiger.
"He’d say, “You got that enough, Rick?” I’d go, “Yeah we got great stuff” and then he’d kick the tiger and walk away.
"He’d literally walk away saying, “f**king ass tiger” and then he’d kick it. I watched him shoot several animals just because he was pissed off."
It wasn't just the animals that suffered in the presence of Joe as he also traumatised the 61-year-old by firing a gun at his head.
Rick said that working alongside the wild cat enthusiast, who is the focus of the popular Netflix true crime story, left him needing therapy years later.
He told the Mirror Online: “I am still having nightmares about Joe Exotic.
“He used to wake me up by firing a gun over my head. He was crazy.”
Joe is currently serving 22 years in prison for hiring a hitman to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin.
Rick also accused the Netflix star of treating his staff “like dirt”.
“He gave them the food that was set aside for the animals which was mostly meat that had expired from the local Walmart store,” he claimed.
“The animal trainers ate like animals and were treated like animals by him.
“It was a very dirty environment to live in. We were working 12-14 hours a day as he had to have a camera rolling from the time he got up to the time he went to bed.
“He wanted everything videotaped and that was kind of shocking even the bad things that he done.”
Their partnership ended after Rick’s studio was burnt down – along with any incriminating footage of Joe.
Rick explained: “Two days before the studio fire I told him that I got a lot of video that would get you in a lot of trouble, so don’t give me any s***.
“I was the only person he couldn’t fire because I was not working for him, I was working for me.”
He went on: “Two days later, of course, the studio burned down with all of my footage.
“The last time I ever saw Joe was that argument and he vowed that he would get back at me.”
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