Joe Exotic responds to Carole Baskin announcing her ex-husband Don Lewis has been found alive

'Tiger King' Joe Exotic has responded to Carole Baskin's resurfaced claims that her ex-husband has been found alive.

The media personality, real name Joseph A Maldonado, has shared his views on Baskin's controversial controversial comments - and you can imagine he's not about to take them at face value.

You can see what Carole has to say below:

The news follows claims made by animal rights activist, Carole Baskin, 61, that her missing former husband has been found 'alive' in Costa Rica.

This comes as somewhat as a shock, especially considering that Joe Exotic, 59, alleged that Baskin fed her ex-husband to tigers when he went missing back in 1997.

Don Lewis was declared legally dead some five years later in 2002.

Alamy

However, Baskin, 61, claimed Lewis had actually already been found alive in Netflix's follow-up series Tiger King 2 two years ago - yet oddly no one seemed to take much note.

In an interview with ITV’s This Morning talk show, Baskin opened up about how Tiger King 2 massively helped in tracking down Lewis.

Baskin said: "They said that my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica."

Joseph A Maldonado/Facebook

Baskin continued: "And yet all of this drama has been made about me having something to do with his disappearance, when Homeland Security has known where he is at least since back then."

However, following the news, Joe Exotic, who had been a key figure in the allegations about Baskin and Lewis' disappearance, has since spoken out.

Responding to an article shared on Facebook by NX2 News with the title "Carole Baskin's 'dead' husband found alive", Exotic responded with a firm "No he is not."

Additionally, Exotic shared a statement issued by John Phillips, his attorney, to Facebook yesterday (January 18).

It reads: "During the filming of Tiger King, detailed efforts were made to find Don Lewis. They all failed. He is not alive."

Netflix

The statement continued: "The 2021 report by Carole Baskin was further unsupported allegation. It’s being republished as if it has veracity. It doesn’t."

Going into some more detail about the controversy and drama attached to the Tiger King series, Phillips added: "The story of the Tiger King is filled with lies, set up and misdirection. We still await a hearing for Joe’s freedom.

"The lies and set up are spelled out in his Motion for New Trial. Read it. The work is done. The Cosmopolitan article based on the ITV report is false and designed to bring more attention to Carole Baskin."

Joe Exotic is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence after being convicted of hiring two different people to kill Baskin.