Joe Exotic · Sticks Larkin
Stay tuned for a weekday open thread!
the true crime that's worth your time
It’s another weird week in this world we all share. As much as Sarah and I want to reward our paid subscribers with exclusive content, we sort of feel like huddling up with the whole gang these days. That’s why we’re keeping things free this week — but paid subscribers, please know that there’s always a special VIP room for you in our hearts. (And bonus content coming very soon!)
AND we’re still gathering “bids” for the true-crime bracket. Film, TV, Text, and Pods — tell us your favorite/most legendary, then get ready to vote next week.
Everybody’s talking about Tiger King, the long-awaited Netflix doc on allegedly murderous amateur zookeeper Joe Exotic. Animal-abuse sounds and footage means I’m out, but I’m still up for reading the coverage. Here’s some of the most interesting content churned by the show:
Netflix’s Tiger King: Where Are Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin Now? [Vanity Fair]
Here are all the questions we still have about Tiger King, Joe Exotic, and big-cat people [The AV Club]
Tiger King is the weird docu-series distraction we can use right now [CNN]
Joe Exotic's “Here Kitty Kitty” Music Video Might Be the Best Part of Tiger King [Esquire]
And of course SDB’s take on the sprawling and disorganized, but still super-watchable, series [Primetimer]
Surely one of you watched this show this weekend — after all, it’s not like you could really go anywhere! Is it worthy of all the hype? Let’s hear it. — EB
As if you hadn’t heard: Harvey Weinstein tested positive for COVID-19. When I texted Sarah the news, she expressed bemusement that Weinstein managed to score a test when other incarcerated folks are unable to do so. She would have been even more — heh — bemused if she’d seen the allegedly special treatment the disgraced movie mogul got while awaiting transfer in New York’s infamous Rikers Island, which The Daily Beast reports involved an entire wing to himself and “special snacks, such as junk food.”
He’s since been transferred to Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York, the Niagara Gazette reports, where he’s been placed in isolation after his coronavirus test came back positive. Officials say they believe Weinstein “was positive for the virus when he entered the state prison system last Wednesday from Rikers Island,” one of two recently transferred inmates who are confirmed as infected. — EB
Why does the New York Times have a longform piece on Sean Larkin? The Tulsa cop slash Live PD host is the subject of a profile by Lindsey Underwood, a Styles section writer I like very much. She does her best to spin gold from the straw that is Larkin, whose most notable feature seems to be that he is dating Lana Del Rey.
Tulsa’s notorious for a pervasive police scandal uncovered in 2011, as well as a horrifying massacre of black residents back in 1921. Larkin doesn’t address those demons, and instead says that Live PD helps “offset preconceived notions” about the cops.
“A movie like ‘Training Day’ came out, great movie, loved it. But it painted police in a bad light. ‘The Shield,’ which was a TV show that was used to be on FX, great show,” he said. “But the cops are these rogue guys who run around stealing drugs, and committing murders and things like that.”
“It makes great for TV,” Mr. Larkin said, but for people who have had bad experiences with police or in life or “just whatever reason, they see these things and they think that’s how the cops really are.”
I will now juxtapose that quote with this 2015 piece from The Daily Beast on police shootings, abuse, and corruption issues in Tulsa, including the slaying of an unarmed black man. If I haven’t completely soured you, you can read the full Times profile here. — EB
Stay tuned… We’ve got a fun discussion thread ready for you in just a few hours!
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