‘Tiger King’ Star Admits He Saw The ‘Fear’ In Travis Maldonado’s Eyes When He Shot Himself

Netflix

Netflix just dropped a bonus episode of ‘Tiger King’, and Joe Exotic’s campaign manager Joshua Dial talked witnessing Travis Maldonado’s death.

Hey all you cool cats and kittens! In case you haven’t heard, a new episode of Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness just dropped, and the special after-show brought back fan favorites like John Finlay, Erik Cowie and Kelci “Saff” Saffery. Hosted by Joel McHale, the docu-series stars talked about how they’re coping with newfound fame and revealed behind-the-scenes secrets that didn’t make it into the show. Joshua Dial, who was Joe Exotic‘s campaign manager when he was running for governor of Oklahoma, even opened up about the shocking moment he witnessed the death of Joe’s husband Travis Maldonado.

“The thing is, I had to go in that office every day and sit in that same chair and look at that bullet hole in the wall every day for a year and a half after Travis killed himself,” Joshua began. “I was never able to get counseling because Joe didn’t help me and neither did Jeff Lowe, so what my plan is hopefully I’ll be able to raise some money, enough to get me some counseling and get on my meds. Once I’m back stable and ready to go, I want to jump back into campaigning for sure.” The Tiger King star also revealed Travis was talking to him in the seconds leading up to his death.

“We were talking. He was telling me about his gun. Joe just bought him a Ruger. He said, ‘Hey, you know, a Ruger won’t fire without a clip.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ Right then, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger to prove to me it wouldn’t fire without a clip. However, it must have had one in the chamber.” When asked whether Travis had deliberately intended on shooting himself, Joshua said, “No. No, ‘cause I was looking at him in the eyes when he did it and I could see the surprise and the fear in his eyes. Basically translated, he’s like ‘Oh, crap. What did I just do?’ Maybe 5 seconds of his eyes I could read it and then he was gone.”

The new episode dropped just days after President Donald Trump revealed he’s willing to give Joe’s case a look. The documentary’s polarizing star is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill rival Carole Baskin. A reported asked President Trump about it during the COVID-19 briefing on Apr. 8 and whether or not he’d consider pardoning Joe. “I know nothing about it…he has 22 for what? What did he do?” Trump asked the reporter. He then asked the the young man, “You think he didn’t do it? Are you on his side? Are you recommending a pardon?” before saying, “I will take a look.” The reporter also noted that his son Don Jr. has already semi-joked that he was going to advocate for Joe’s release.