(Fort Worth, TX)  —  Joe Exotic will stay in prison after failing to receive a pardon from President Donald Trump. 

Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage,  was the star of the Netflix miniseries “Tiger King” last year.  He’s serving 22-years for a murder-for-hire plot, and for violations of wildlife laws involving the sales and deaths of some tigers. 

Tuesday, Exotic and his lawyers were so optimistic about a possible pardon, he booked a limo to pick him up from the Federal prison in Fort Worth.  But he didn’t make the list of Trump’s final pardons.