Joe Exotic Called Us From Federal Prison. He's Not Enjoying the Food.

Joe Exotic Called Us From Federal Prison. He's Not Enjoying the Food.

A few hours before “Joe Exotic,” née Joseph Maldonado, called me from federal detention in Forth Worth, Texas, I had underlined a sentence in Jay McInerney’s beloved novel Bright Lights Big City that would come to take on a special resonance: “Everything becomes symbol and irony when you have been betrayed.” Little did I know that sentiment would seem to underscore the conversation I would have with the incarcerated wild animal breeder, who’s cu…