Can I Get A Fuck Yeah For Erik Cowie, Total Bae & The True Tiger King

It seems to be a pretty significant time in history. COVID-19 is consuming the planet and is even infecting the elite like Prince Charles and Boris Johnson. We are still feeling the effects of our country all but burning up just a couple of weeks ago and and we are all scrambling with the new changes lockdown seems to bring every day. It seems nothing, NOTHING could possibly distract the general population from our manic and strange reality right now.

Except:

Suss timing, no?

Yes,  ‘Tiger King’. THe documentary that managed to sedate me in what otherwise has been the most anxious week of my life. But it literally had to take a redneck running for president, murder, suicide, hitmen, jail sentencing, arson, cults, polygamous marriage, some fucking serious animal cruelty and expired Walmart meat pizza parlours to get me to think about something else for even just a few moments.

So now that I’m thinking about it, I want to talk about the one of the few saving graces of this docu-series. One of course is the campaign manager, the other is Erik Cowie.

He is the head zookeeper who looks like Shaggy if there was some sort of Scooby Doo, Where Are They Now? reunion:

where is the lie

Erik was one of the few people on the show who seemed to have no agenda. He just really fucking loved tigers and enjoyed being around them. He was actually there to keep the animals alive during the time Joe was off running for president in his fame hungry publicity stunt.

During this time, and all the time for that matter, Joe provided zero management or care for the zoo, animals or employees. Erik was literally the glue that held that place together, verifiable by Joe’s reality show producer Rick Kirkman.

“I had to film a reality show to make it look like (Joe) cared about (the animals) when he really didn’t. I live with that to this day”.

Joe’s reckless and cruel-to-say-the-least behaviour took it’s toll on Erik. He has a genuine soul. My heart truly broke for Erik during one of the final scenes of the show, when he testified against Joe. He didn’t have anything to gain, he totally did it for the tigers.

“He came up with a gun in his hand. I knew he had just shot Cuddles, I could hear it. (Joe) said “If I’d known it would be this easy to kill them, I’d have just walked up to their cages and kill them all”. There was no way for me to stop it. It was gunna happen.”

Cut to, him in his bedroom. In his big cat top, looking at his photos with tigers with a large tiger plush doll on the bed. There are Smirnoff bottles in the background of the shot and he is slurring his words when he says:

“Those cats trusted me. So they could look me in the eye when they died. I was the guy that was right there.”

He had to pause because he was going to break down. There was no faking what you could see on screen, it was one of the rawest and genuine moments I’ve ever seen on TV. I totally weeped into my mi goreng. He cared for the animals, developed bonds with them yet had to witness them being killed. He lives with Joe’s fucked behaviour to this day and feels remorse for Joe’s actions. He is clearly still troubled by it all, even years after the events took place.

I’m aware that there is more that Erik could have done earlier to expose Joe’s actions. But understandably, people need to do what they can to hold onto a job, this is made more difficult by having a passive personality type, and of course having someone like Joe as an enemy.

Despite the heartbreak of this entire show, I’m so glad it brought Erik to the light, who in the end was the unsung hero of the whole story. With Carole, Doc, Jeff, Joe and more fighting for the title, without a shadow of a doubt, Erik was the the true Tiger King all along.

Some other fav Erik moments of the show include:

  • When asked how many wives Doc had he said “I don’t fuckin’ care” (yass, boy).
  • His genuine and kind words about Travis after his death “He was a joy…he was an absolute joy”.
  • And when he was in court “I don’t go to court. I don’t get traffic tickets. I’m a good boy, and this ain’t my arena”. 

You ARE a good boy. ILY Erik.

I’ll leave you with a still from one of my favourite Tiger King moments, just to lift the mood a bit.

Take care x.

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