Imprisoned Tiger King sues over songs used in Netflix series

Joe Exotic is suing a songwriter who revealed in media interviews that he was lip-syncing the catchy tune "I Saw a Tiger" in a music video seen in the Netflix documentary about his life.

He accuses songwriter Vince Johnson of copyright infringement for releasing an album in 2020 featuring that song and four others.

The former Oklahoma zookeeper was convicted at trial in 2019 of hiring two men to kill his chief critic, Carole Baskin, and of crimes involving his animals. He became well-known worldwide a year later after Netflix released "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness."

He was ordered in January to serve 21 years in federal prison after an appeals court threw out his original sentence. He claims he is innocent and is seeking a new trial on newly discovered evidence and other grounds.

"I have faith that I will go home," he said in a news release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

His attorney, John M. Phillips, filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Florida. Joe Exotic is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and a permanent ban on further "unauthorized use" of his songs.

In the lawsuit, he goes by the name Joseph Maldonado.

Johnson has "admitted he acted with intent so as to profit from MALDANADO'S fame following the airing of Netflix's 'Tiger King; Murder, Mayhem and Madness,'" his attorney alleged in the lawsuit.

Also sued were BMG Rights Management LLC, Create Music Group Inc., Rip Roaring Records and Tiger King Publishing.

In interviews, Johnson, of Vancouver, Washington, said he began writing songs for the zookeeper in 2013. He said a bandmate, Danny Clinton, who died in 2019, was the singer.

"I had no idea he was going to Milli Vanilli the songs," he told Vanity Fair for an article about his involvement. "I was on YouTube one night and just happened to look up Joe Exotic. And there he was, lip-syncing and acting like the ghost of Elvis. I called him up. I was hot."

The lawsuit contends Johnson signed agreements transferring the rights to "I Saw a Tiger" and four other songs to Joe Exotic. The lawsuit also contends he also signed an agreement to keep secret his involvement.

The lawsuit alleges Johnson also has falsely claimed involvement in the song "Here Kitty Kitty."

Maldonado and Clinton came up with "Here Kitty Kitty" without Johnson's creative input, according to the lawsuit. The song is about Baskin and the disappearance of her husband, Don Lewis.

Watch the video for 'I Saw a Tiger' starring Joe Exotic

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Joe Exotic files federal copyright infringement lawsuit over songs