Jeff Lowe called Allen Gloven, the hitman in the saga of Tiger King, “the sweetest hitman that you could ever hire.” The revelation comes courtesy of the brand new episode of the hit docu-series that took over Netflix over the weekend. Joel McHale hosted the special which showed off what that expansive cast of characters was doing now. Lowe’s portion of the interview was full of insight, but when it came to Allen, he and his wife were all smiles. McHale cracked that the hitman was one of the most terrifying people that he’d ever seen on TV. The documentary star disagreed with that estimation and also claimed that the people in charge of Tiger King made him out to be the bad guy.
“No, I mean, I think they tried to sensationalize the story a little bit to give it a villain. And the villain is right here,” Lowe explained. “All these guys come to me when they’re in trouble, like Joe. And then as soon as I help them, and I no longer help them, then they turn on me. You know what, I’m getting used to it.”
While he felt exploited, not everyone in Joe Exotic’s orbit did. Josh Dial was the presidential campaign manager for the Internet star. He told McHale that the Netflix documentary was “fair and balanced” in its treatment of Exotic. Dial made no effort to minimize how screwed up his former employer was back then. Everything needed to be on the table for the world to see.
“When the folks first started filming Joe, I was already working for Joe,” Dial said. “So, I’ve known the producer and directors since day one. The way they did this documentary, it’s fair, it’s balanced and I just think it’s a wonderful production.” He wasn’t trying to hear Lowe’s complaints about the way that he was painted in the documentary. The campaign manager added, “Well, the truth hurts. The truth hurts.”
Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, the directors of Netflix’s smash-hit, stressed there were no heroes in Joe Exotic’s story.
“I would say it’s very important for people to know this that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of empathy for [Joe’s current husband] Dillon. We had empathy for Joe, but Joe did a lot of horrible things,” Goode explained. “Joe committed some really serious crimes and Joe was not only cruel and inhumane to his animals, he was cruel to the people around him. I think it’s very important for people to understand that Joe is an actor and he tells people what they want to hear. As much as we have some empathy for Joe and found Joe to be such an incredible character — this mullet-wearing country singer in Oklahoma — he did a lot of horrible things.”
Did you watch the final episode? Let us know in the comments!
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