Eric Love Is the Person Restlessly Campaigning for Joe Exotic's Early Release

Season 2 of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness captures the latest installment of Joe Exotic's seemingly never-ending saga. Sentenced to 22 years in prison in January 2020, Joe has been pleading for compassionate release since receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis in the fall of 2021.

One of the people who has been playing an active role in his fight for freedom is Eric Love, a Texas-based millionaire who reportedly became an avid supporter after watching Season 1 of the Netflix series.

Joe's shenanigans as the (ex)leader of Oklahoma's The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park first entered the mainstream in March 2020, after the release of Season 1 of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. Eric Love, a police officer turned private investigator, took up an interest in freeing Joe after watching the Netflix series.

In 2020 and 2021, Eric traveled to Washington, D.C., several times in the hope of getting Joe a presidential pardon.

One time, Eric drove a bus adorned with the sign, "Please Pardon Joe Exotic," from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C, with the hope of drawing more attention to the complications Joe is currently facing and ultimately freeing him from prison. On another occasion, Eric used a similarly-decorated plane to travel to the capital city.

In January 2021, Eric sent a limo and a team comprising a hair and makeup artist, a doctor, and a mental health expert to the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the prison where Joe is held, to welcome him upon his potential release. But the moment never came.

Eric is best known for his work with Team Tiger. A philanthropist, he is also closely associated with the nonprofit helping unhoused people, Love Love. According to his Twitter bio, he also works as a private investigator.

Season 2 of Tiger King shifts the focus slightly. The new batch of episodes introduces us to characters from Joe's past. Kimberly Craft, Joe's ex-fiancée, and Brian Rhyne, his first husband, are just some of the people who earn a mention.

Season 1 touched on Joe's animosity with Carole Baskin and the strange disappearance of Carole's ex-husband, Don Lewis. A vocal critic of Tiger King, Carole pledged not to return for Season 2.

"I don’t know how they put out a Tiger King 2 when Joe [is] in jail, and I'm refusing to be played again," Carole told NME. "I'm refusing to be played again. Rebecca Chaiklin [co-director of Tiger King] said she wanted to ‘clear the air’ about what they did to me in Tiger King. I told her to lose my number. There is no explanation for such a betrayal and false portrayal."

But Carole will reportedly appear in archival footage featured in Season 2 of Tiger King. In response to the latest developments, she and her husband, Howard, filed a lawsuit against Royal Goode Productions on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, per Variety.

Season 2 of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is available on Netflix now.