_ Jailed Netflix star Joe Exotic, 61, reveals he's undergoing tests for lung cancer after an 'abnormal' scan - but says he'll REFUSE treatment if diagnosed

Tiger King star Joe Exotic fears his cancer has returned - and is adamant he will refuse treatment and succumb to the disease in prison should doctors confirm the devastating news.

The former zookeeper, 61, who is five years into a 21-year sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin, is waiting to find out if he has lung cancer after doctors found an abnormality during a routine scan last year.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com from Santa Rosa County jail in Florida, Exotic revealed that he has already planned his funeral - which will feature in a new film documenting the 'true' story of his Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park.

'In October of last year, I had X-rays, and something showed up on my left lung,' Joe - who has smoked for 40 years - said.

'I had a CT scan in January and then I had a PET scan the Friday before I shipped out to come down here to verify that it is cancer in left lung. I still have not got the results, so I may be fighting lung cancer now.'

However, Exotic said although he adores his fan base - who have prevented him from hitting rock-bottom in jail - he is going to refuse treatment.

'I'm going to decline cancer treatments this time around if it is lung cancer because I just can't do it again,' he said. 'I can't. I can't live in a six by 12-foot concrete room with no TV, no radio, nobody and puke every day. 

'I will just let this take me this time. I've watched too many of my friends die in here.'

Exotic, who is currently in remission, battled prostate cancer behind bars in 2021 and received treatment in Federal Medical Center, Butner in North Carolina.

He said he did not want to treat the disease at the time but decided to do so for the sake of his loved ones, including his partner Seth Posey.

'I did it for Seth and I did it for my team because they weren't giving up on me,' he said. 'But I'm losing hope that this system is ever going to admit they're wrong.'

Exotic has made arrangements for his death, confirming that he will leave everything to Seth and his son, and that he wants his ashes to be scattered next to his second husband, Travis Maldonado, who fatally shot himself in 2017.

He said: 'I've already got an advanced directive and a DNR (do not resuscitate). I already have the will all set up for Seth and his son.

'I have power of attorney, directions of what to do with my ashes to go back to where I put Travis's ashes.

'I have left everything; my trademarks, my copyright certificate, my bank account, everything, to that man [Seth] and his kid.'

Exotic met Seth online in 2021 when Seth won his online competition to become his new boyfriend.

He has described Seth as the 'only man that didn't screw me over in the last six years'.

'He is super supportive,' Exotic said. 'He answers the phone every time I call no matter what time of day it is or how tired he is.

Exotic also revealed that he is currently shooting a new follow up film to the acclaimed Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem, which became one of the streamer's most successful releases to date when it dropped during the COVID 19 outbreak in March 2020. 

Titled The Tiger King Returns, Exotic said: 'I have a film crew out there that's filming and doing the true movie.

'This time, nobody's being paid. This is going to be Joe's directors and this is going to be the true story.

'It's not going to be a bunch of hyped-up crap to sell on Netflix.

'It's being filmed by my people. I have investors that have funded all of this. And it is going to have the beginning of the true story of the zoo and what was really going on.'

He continued: 'And then I'm going to cover how prison really is, because every prison movie I've ever seen is bullsh*t compared to what really goes on in here.'

Exotic shot to fame when Netflix released the seven part documentary Tiger King back in 2020.

His bitter feud with Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin was the primary focus in the first season, which follows the events leading up to his conviction under federal murder-for-hire statutes when it comes to light that he paid a hitman to murder Baskin.  

Exotic - real name Joseph Allen Maldonado - was also convicted on eight counts for violation of the Lacey Act, which prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.

He was also found guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act for nine counts. 

Exotic, who is also currently awaiting a court appearance for a civil lawsuit involving a music dispute, founded the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, alternatively known as the G.W. Zoo, in 1999.

Based in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, the attraction was home to lions, tigers and other big cats.

After the Netflix series became an unlikely phenomenon, Jeff Lowe tried to exploit the zoo's newfound fame and reopened it as 'Tiger King Park' in May 2020.

But within weeks an Oklahoma judge handed Baskin control of G.W. Zoo. She vowed never to reopen it or any other tourist site on the complex.

Baskin and husband Howard found the park flooded with rotten meat, filth in every corner, and graffiti alleging she murdered her ex-husband. Since their takeover two years ago, the zoo has been laid to ruin.

(Fluierul)