Bhagavan “Doc” Antle was among the three main figures interviewed for Netflix’s new documentary, Tiger King, that’s quickly shaken up the pop culture world. So many celebs have spoken out about the new documentary, from Cardi B voicing support of Joe Exotic, to 50 Cent confirming he did indeed watch the documentary series.
Last week, we reported on how Joe Exotic is suing the feds, as well as former employees for $94 million. He’s currently incarcerated following a murder-for-hire plot gone awry, among some other charges that were all explained in the series. Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, who owns and operates the Myrtle Beach safari, issued a statement after the documentary released distancing himself from it. Carol Baskin and her Big Cat Rescue team released a similar type of statement.
Now, Antle appears on comedian and podcaster Theo Von’s show, where he spoke about some of the faults with the documentary, including his personal representation. He tells Theo Von, first and foremost, he’s a single guy– although the doc made it seem like he has a haram of wives.
Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images
“I’m a single guy…I was married 25 years ago. But I’m a single guy, I got girlfriends. They’ve come and gone over the years. It can’t be unique that I got girlfriends, it’s just they were put on a screen saying this and that,” he states, adding that some of the ladies in the series were “relatives” or “significant others of my staff and stuff helping me out.” He also added, “These aren’t teenagers that are walking around here, granted, some of them have been here for decades.”
One of the other points of contention in the doc, is the fact that the documentary filmmakers alluded to Doc Antle euthanizing cubs that could no longer be played with for profit. As far as any “inappropriateness with tiger cubs” Doc states, “They asked me every question in the world, 99% of them had nothing to do with anything that was going to become Tiger King, they just pick and choose pieces.”
He added, “No tiger babies are ever going to be euthanized or pushed out of the way, they’re incredibly special to us.”
Finally, the documentary ends with stating that Doc Antle’s property was raided in December 2019, which Antle says is simply untrue– they were willingly helping out the police. “We were not raided.” He continues, “We had an inquiry from Virginia magistrate, who wanted to get some DNA from some lion cubs.”
When it comes to Exotic Joe, and where everything went wrong for him, Doc Antle shares his perspective on the matter: “I think that he’s had a lot of difficulties that have come up…besides for Carol, PETA was a thorn in his side.”
He continued, “I think that Joe was too big and imploding in his own way, he was taking on the responsibility of so many animals and I think that that is just a difficulty in itself. There’s a certain point that you have to stop.”
It also sounds like Doc Antle may soon be pursuing the filmmakers of Tiger King legally, as he told Theo Von in response to a question about them: “I’ve been advised not to talk about them, if it gets to litigation,” Doc said.
Have you watched Tiger King? Check out the new podcast episode in full below.
