Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix’s new hit show Tiger King, is no average Joe.
And when it comes to a Google search face-off with a high-profile Joe, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, the big cat aficionado is still top dog — or, rather, top cat.
The Netflix show was released March 20, featuring Exotic and his legal battles against Carole Baskin, the CEO of Big Cat Rescue. Three days after the show was released, Exotic surged past Biden in Google search trends and has remained on top ever since.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was sentenced to prison in January after being convicted in April 2019 on two counts of murder-for-hire and 17 wildlife charges. The breeder maintained his innocence in a January Facebook post and said his attorneys were filing an appeal.
In recent weeks, Biden has disappeared from the campaign trail as he and many others across the country hunker down during the coronavirus pandemic. To stay in touch with voters and reporters, the former vice president has been broadcasting from his basement. Still, Democrats are reportedly worried about their candidate’s visibility while President Trump holds near-daily briefings focused on the coronavirus response.
Indeed, Google search trends for Trump have spiked above both Biden and Exotic.
