Joe Exotic told The Dallas Express there’s more to his recent application to marry an illegal alien and fellow inmate than getting nookie.

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, commonly known as Tiger King’s Joe Exotic, told DX, “We’re not trying to do this to get around the rules of being able to have sex.”

“Trust me, you don’t need to get married to have sex [in prison],” Exotic said. “There’s 1,400 guys with trannies and gay people and sex offenders, trust me. Me and George want to do it right.”

When DX asked why this was the right time to wed, Exoctic replied, “We want to get married now to show the commitment to each other; and that way, his amnesty might go through a little better because he has a stable relationship, income, and a place to live here in America.”

The couple rocked the mediaverse in late October when the 61-year-old filed an application to the federal prison, also known as the Federal Medical Facility in Fort Worth, to wed fellow inmate Jorge Marquez Flores, whom he calls “George.”

VIDEO of DX journalist Kellen McGovern Jones interviewing Exotic on speakerphone:

The engagement was first announced on X, with Exotic’s account posting: “Meet Jorge Marquez he is 33. He is so amazing and is from Mexico. Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we [will] be leaving America when we both get out. Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago,” DX previously reported.

This is the fulfillment of a dream for the Tiger King.

“I’ve always had this fascination and kind of a fantasy dream of being able to fall in love with somebody from another country and have to teach each other how to communicate,” Exotic told DX.

While fantasies of an exotic romance dance through Exotic’s head, he finds communication difficult.

George does not speak English.

Yet this is not an insurmountable challenge to the Kansas-born documentary star. Exotic says he has never devoted more time to something than learning Spanish.

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Exotic explained that the couple overcame the language barrier by sitting in the courtyard and other places, reading translation books, and toiling away at finding words for their affection for each other.

Exotic popped the question to George. However, the prison commissary does not sell rings. So DX asked him what he and George did in place of a gold band and a diamond.

“I’m going to get in trouble for this, but I can’t lie,” Exotic said. “I’ve always had a crown tattoo on my ring finger. So he tattooed a crown ring figure, a ring, so that’s our crown wedding rings.” The rings are identical, he added.

Exotic has not spoken to his fianceè’s family in Mexico directly but told DX he has sat with George while they talk in Spanish via telephone. “They’re all excited and gung-ho,” he said.

In an interesting twist, Exotic says George’s family knew about the Netflix documentary series Tiger King, from which Exotic draws a nickname, but his fianceè did not.

Notwithstanding, DX asked if Exotic had concerns that George could be after legal status or fame rather than a union based on mutual devotion. Exotic started his response by noting that when the two met, George was in a gang.

“Normally,” Exotic explained that when this happens, “they [the gang] beat the fuck out of you.”

While George was spared, Exotic felt that the risk he took by starting a romance with him earned his trust.

Love conquers all, they say, and so far, the couple has conquered a lot, but many obstacles still lay in their path.

Homosexual prison marriages between inmates in the same institution are rare. As far as Exotic knows, two male inmates have never married each other at the Federal Medical Facility. A quick Google search on the subject does not dig up any previously publicized instances.

Once they tie the knot, Exotic says his then-husband could be transferred to a different facility.

There is also the possibility that even if his husband is allowed to remain in the same facility until he completes his sentence in the spring of 2025, he could be deported upon release. Exotic objects to this vociferously, and he told DX he has retained Fort Worth’s prominent immigration attorney, Francisco Hernandez, to represent George as he seeks legal status.

Staying with his fianceè is a top priority for him.

Exotic told DX that if he won his appeal and were freed, he would even follow George to Mexico.

DX asked Exotic if his fianceè is forced to leave the country would he be concerned about being able to support himself and the man he loves if he must start again in the Land of the Aztecs.

No, Exotic replied, explaining, “I think I’m going to be wealthy the minute my foot hits the first sidewalk… with the TV appearances and the guest appearances, and I’ve got my own movie being made right now under my direction; so finances, I am not worried about finances.”

If they are allowed to wed and stay in the same facility, Exotic said that he does not expect their cohabitation to be a love nest filled with all the things newlyweds and bunnies are known to do. Exotic explained that there would not be much privacy.

“We’re going to be in a room with 15 other grown men,” said Exotic.

During DX‘s first of two telephone exchanges on November 1, DX asked Exotic what message he would share with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Colette Peters, if he could speak to her directly.

“It’s my constitutional right to marry George. I would appreciate it if you would give us the okay to go ahead and get married,” Exotic replied before reemphasizing that his relationship was pure and built on love alone.

In the second telephone exchange between DX and Exotic, he added to his message to Peters: “There’s father and son in here. And there’s brothers in here, and there’s cousins in here. So two married men, it would be no different.”

Referencing George’s imminent release and his appeal, he added, “It’s only for six months, and then we’ll hopefully both be out of your hair.”

While the outcome of the marriage application is not yet known, that has not stopped the prisoners from planning the best wedding ceremony they can.

“90% of inmates are so excited because they want to have a wedding out on the rec yard,” Exotic explained, and the couple had already answered key questions about the service, such as who would play the ring bearers.

Exotic has been married before.

“I’ve had two amazing marriages. Brian [Rhyne], it lasted 16 years before he died, and Travis [Maldonado], we had an amazing marriage. We were legally married five years before he died.”

“John Finley was just a joke,” he said, referring to his polygamous wedding ceremony to John Finlay and Maldonado.

“Dillon [Passage], believe it or not, Dillon, when I was arrested, that’s who I was married to,” said Exotic, adding that Dillon was the first gay person he had dated or married. “And it went to s**t in a hurry.”

George would be the second openly gay man Exotic has married if they are approved to walk down the aisle together metaphorically.

Exotic was convicted on almost two dozen counts, including 19 counts of wildlife crimes and two counts of hiring hitmen to kill animal activist Carole Baskin in 2019. He is currently serving a 21-year sentence. In 2020, Exotic urged then-president Trump to pardon him and has made similar pleas to the Biden Administration.

Part two of DX‘s interview with Tiger King’s Joe Exotic will be published on November 4.