Netflix's Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness has proved to be the streaming giant's biggest hit of 2020 so far for many reasons. The jaw-dropping true-crime documentary has everything - Oklahoma roadside zoo owner/polygamist/wannabe country music star (aka Joe Exotic), a former drug kingpin, sinister plot twists, a mysterious death and so much more. On top of all that, it also features lots of clips from Joe's brilliantly bizarre own music videos, which fans on Twitter have been loving almost as much as the drama.
But others seemed a little suspicious about his vocals, with another tweeting: "Am I the only one who came away from Tiger King thinking that could NOT have been Joe Exotic's voice in all of his albums? Hell, in those music videos, he's sometimes strumming a guitar, but he never changes chord position. I don't think that man is actually a musician at all."
And those who were suspicious had every right to be because Joe didn't actually sing any of the songs we heard on the series, apparently. According to Vanity Fair, who did some digging, the musicians responsible for Joe’s tracks are actually The Clinton Johnson Band's Vince Johnson and vocalist Danny Clinton. Both men are listed on the Tiger King credits.
Read Next
Joe is said to have tracked the pair down and asked them to write the songs for free for a reality show that he reportedly claimed three broadcasters were fighting for. The pair agreed as they thought the show would give them lots of exposure.
Little did they know Joe was allegedly going to pretend the songs were his own. It was only when they stumbled across one of their songs on Joe's YouTube channel that they started to realise a reality show wasn't going to happen.
"It was a couple of months and two or three songs [into the collaboration] when I was on YouTube one night and just happened to look up Joe Exotic. And there he was, lip-syncing and acting like the ghost of Elvis [in these music videos]. I called him up, I was hot… And he bamboozled me about his reality show - that it was coming soon and he would make everything right as rain. I just wanted the proper credit," Vince told VF.
After learning that Joe apparently faked his musical abilities, one Tiger King fan tweeted: "Joe Exotic doesn't sing his own songs? I'm disappointed," while a second joked, "How am I doing? how am I DOING? I just found out Joe Exotic doesn’t sing his own songs so you can imagine the pain I’m going through right now."
Meanwhile, Joe's former producer Rick Kirkham told Vanity Fair of Joe's singing skills: "Joe got a little bit drunk and high, and we actually coaxed him into singing part of one of the songs. He couldn’t even hold a tune.
"It was just so ludicrous. It was a big joke within the crew and staff that it wasn’t him [singing in the videos]—but he was damned insistent to anyone and everyone, including us and my studio crew, that that was him."
And there you have it, Tiger King fans!
Zoe Shenton is the Site Director at Cosmopolitan UK. As well as looking after the day-to-day running of the website, she oversees video, e-commerce and social for the brand. Starting out in teen magazines (RIP, Bliss), Zoe has worked in the media industry for almost 15 years and has a background in entertainment journalism, having interviewed the likes of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. She also spent three and a half years living in Los Angeles where she covered red carpets and discovered all the best spots serving bottomless mimosas. Find her on
