CINCINNATI, Ohio (WDTN) — Joseph Maldonado, also known as Joe Exotic, star of the popular Netflix documentary series “Tiger King,” has written a letter addressed to Cincinnati’s own “Tiger King.”

In a statement posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Maldonado addressed people using the “Tiger King” title for Burrow.

“I see the news, magazines as well as yourself calling you the Tiger King. Everyone in the world is exploiting me and my trademarks while I sit innocent in an American Federal Prison,” said the statement.

“I have been the Tiger King before you got out of high school. Tiger King is my trademark and my intellectual property.”

In an interview with Lordstown Motors in 2022, Burrow addressed the nickname, saying he didn’t actually like it.

“See, I don’t like that one that much. I don’t like that show, I have not seen the show, because I don’t like seeing animals in cages, I don’t really like that,” Burrow said in the interview. “So, I didn’t see the show, so I don’t like that nickname.”

Maldonado’s statement continued on to ask Burrow for help in hiring a lawyer.

“Since everyone is enjoying the fame of being the Tiger King and I’m suffering wrongfully in prison in a cage. How about doing a good deed and helping me raise $20,000 for a down payment to hire attorneys?”

In 2020, Maldonado was convicted by a federal jury of two counts of murder-for-hire, eight counts of violating the Lacey Act, and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. According to the Associated Press, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison in January of 2022.

“Maybe paying it forward, God might help you get to the Super Bowl this year and I could go home for Christmas,” said the statement. “Then we can work together to stop animals from being in a cage.”