Tiger King producers threaten Louis Theroux with ‘millions of dollars in damages’ in documentary Shooting Joe Exotic

Louis Theroux was threatened by Tiger King producers for ‘millions of dollars in damages’ during the making of follow-up documentary Shooting Joe Exotic.

The new film, which aired on BBC Two on Monday night, saw Louis reflect on his time with Joe for the 2011 documentary America’s Most Dangerous Pets, as well as meeting Carole Baskin.

In one scene, Louis received a legal notice from Royal Goode Productions, who represent people who hold contracts with stars of Tiger King.

‘I got an email from a law firm acting on the producers of Tiger King,’ Louis says in the new film.

Louis read the letter, which ended his hopes of speaking on camera to stars of the documentary, including Joe himself.

The letter read: ‘We are writing to point out that the participation of any of these individuals in your programme would violate their exclusive agreements with RGP, and put you in the position of liable for tortious interference with contract.’

‘I don’t know what that is, but it doesn’t sound good,’ Louis said about the message, which also threatened ‘possibly millions of dollars in punitive damage’.

Elsewhere, the new documentary featured unearthed footage from 2011. It showed Joe calling for the cameras to be turned off, before delivering a veiled threat to Carole.

Louis previously spoke to Metro.co.uk about finding the ‘kind of seemingly veiled threat to do Carole harm’ in the old footage.

‘I want to be totally honest with you, when I saw that I was excited because I thought, “oh my God here’s a little extraordinary, little jewel actually that I hadn’t even remembered,’ admits Louis. ‘I didn’t even realise we were filming at the time,’ he said.

‘I had no recollection of it taking place, and when I heard, I thought, “That’s extraordinary, here’s Joe saying that. Someone’s in touch with a hitman in Tampa Florida and either Carole is going to be killed or Joe is going to be killed.”’

Joe reached world wide fame after becoming the focus of 2020 hit documentary Tiger King. The new film explored the success of the series and reflected on Louis’ experiences meeting Joe, who is currently serving a 22 year life sentence for the plot to kill his big rival Carole.

Joe tried – and failed – to get a presidential pardon from former commander-in-chief Donald Trump following the success of the series, while his fans continue to support him.

Since his imprisonment, Joe has maintained his innocence. Louis also revealed Joe reached out to him shortly after the phenomenal success of Tiger King, urging the filmmaker to get his story across.

Louis Theroux: Shooting Joe Exotic is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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