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Joe Exotic's Ex John Finlay Gets New Teeth, Says He Does Actually Wear Shirts
John Finlay told comedian David Spade in an interview that one of the "Tiger King" directors told him to go shirtless as a "kind of a sex appeal type thing."
One of Joe Exotic’s former husbands, John Finlay, was nearly toothless and almost always shirtless in the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.” But now, he’s got some new pearly whites and revealing that he does, in fact, wear shirts.
Finlay, who once bore a tattoo above his groin reading "Private Property of Joe Exotic," was featured in one of Exotic’s strange music videos. He married Exotic, born Joseph Schreibvogel, along with Travis Maldonado in a 2014 ceremony. Despite the extravagant triple wedding, Finlay and Exotic were never legally married, according to court records. The docuseries documented Finlay and Exotic’s interesting relationship and its dramatic downfall. Finlay ended up getting together with a female park employee at the zoo, whom he got pregnant in 2014. Exotic filed an order of protection against him the same year. Finlay is currently engaged to be married to a different woman, according to TMZ.
While Finlay was not shy about his former meth use in the docuseries, he made it clear to TMZ that meth didn’t result in his tooth decay. He said his teeth were damaged before he tried meth, due to genetic reasons.
Finlay, who now works as a welder in Oklahoma, told TMZ he got his teeth entirely redone last year and seemed annoyed that the docuseries didn’t show any images of his new smile.
"Yes I have my teeth fixed," he wrote in a Facebook post on the fan page "The Truth About John Finlay," which features a picture of his new, toothy smile. "The producers of the Netflix series had video and pictures of this, but chose not to show it."
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, who runs a wildlife preserve in North Carolina and who was also featured in “Tiger King,” told Us Weekly that Finlay’s teeth looked better in real life than they did in the docuseries, even before he got them fixed.
“John was forced to take his teeth out for the series,” Antle said earlier this week. “He had bridgework done. [...] But the show wanted him portrayed a certain way, so the teeth had to come out. He had a full set of teeth before taping.”
Finlay also claimed that going shirtless for basically the entirety of the docuseries was not his idea, telling comedian David Spade that it was the director's idea in an interview posted Sunday.
“It was kind of a a sex appeal type thing,” he said.
The Los Angeles Times interviewed “Tiger King” directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin and Chaiklin said it was Finlay himself who wanted to go shirtless.
"I think he was proud of his tattoos," Chaiklin said.
In The Tiger King and I” — a bonus episode that aired Easter weekend and gave updates on many of the docuseries’ subjects — Finlay appeared to change his tune a bit. He said he went shirtless because he wanted to show off his tattoos.
He did still express some disdain over his depiction in “Tiger King.” He told Joel McHale, the host of “The Tiger King and I,” that he looked like a “drugged out hillbilly” in the docuseries. Finlay said he hasn’t touched drugs since his daughter’s birth.
Additionally, he said his tattoo artist has been receiving some criticism for his infamous groin tattoo coverup, shown in the docuseries. Finlay clarified that the footage only showed a work in progress. He has gotten more ink done down there and after it heals up, he said he’ll reveal the finished piece.
Finlay has not responded to Oxygen.com’s request for comment. Netflix has also not responded to a request for comment from the filmmakers.
