Time moves differently in 2020.
For instance, Tiger King, the wildly popular docu-series from Netflix, actually aired just a few months ago. That show — about a redneck, gun-toting, gay lion-tamer and his feud with a professed animal-rights activist — changed the cultural zeitgeist at the beginning of our collective quarantine, but it might as well have aired 20 years ago after all of the political turmoil and social unrest that’s happened since.
We’re saying this because we’d like to give Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler some benefit of the doubt. The Republican Congresswoman is currently in the midst of a contentious run-off with Democratic challenger Reverend Raphael Warnock. Loeffler is in danger of losing her seat in the Senate, which could, in turn, give Democrats the majority if fellow Democratic hopeful Jon Ossoff wins his run-off against Republican incumbent David Perdue. The stakes are high, Loeffler’s under immense pressure — especially after allegations that she profited in the stock market thanks to her pre-pandemic insider knowledge — and all of this should be taken into account. But really, if you’re going to invoke the name of the Tiger King in order to clap back at your political opponent on social media, you need to do your research.
Loeffler apparently didn’t appreciate a Tweet from Rev. Warnock that accused her of withholding aid from families and individuals in need in her home state, so she responded in kind, accusing Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi of focusing on legalizing marijuana and imploring Warnock to “spare us the gaslighting.” But aside from her misunderstanding of what “gaslighting” means, Loeffler also made a strange reference to Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix’s Tiger King, that … well, see for yourself.
Rent is due today, and Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer are focused on legalizing marijuana and outlawing the Tiger King.
Spare us the gaslighting. https://t.co/HkQeMFfXvh
— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) December 1, 2020
Now, anyone who’s watched the show knows that it begins and ends with Joe Exotic in prison. He’s telling his story on a prison call and we hear actual dialogue from those conversations throughout the series. And yes, Don Jr. once teased that his father might pardon the Tiger King — apparently, Melania enjoyed memes from the show enough to get Trump interested in the guy — but as of now, he’s still in prison, so we’re not sure what Loeffler means when she references “outlawing” the Tiger King? Outlawing binge-watching the show, perhaps? Whatever the case, Twitter had some fun dragging her for the slip-up.
https://twitter.com/jimdowney_/status/1333846614973288448
You are really bad at this.
— AP (@Anthmpeterson) December 1, 2020
Outlawing any tiger king references or memes should be an issue with bipartisan support. https://t.co/Qq4sLHOYN7
— PK (@PjKahle) December 1, 2020
Getting absolutely eviscerated by a Siberian tiger in my backyard shed to own the libs
— Vince Mancini (@VinceMancini) December 1, 2020
https://twitter.com/JustinGunderman/status/1333812826713026560
Look, we’ve all watched a show, loved a show even, and yet failed to remember key events of said show, but it’s a safe bet than when murder-for-hire and illegally selling tiger cubs are in the series description, the villain ends up behind bars. Reality TV 101, Kelly.