The Tiger King star had been hoping for a presidential pardon when Tr*mp left office.

When President Tr*mp finally left office this week, he issued a raft of presidential pardons, as per the norm. Chief among some of those pardoned included his former key aide Steve Bannon and rapper Lil Wayne.

One person who had been hoping for a presidential pardon was Tiger King star Joe Exotic, who is currently serving a 22-year sentence for murder-for-hire charge and multiple animal abuse charges.

There were reports that Team Tiger were so confident that Exotic would receive a pardon that a limo was sent to pick him up from jail, but no pardon was forthcoming.

Hitting out at Tr*mp on Twitter, Exotic wrote: “I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post.

“Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first.”

Comments on the post were not supportive for Exotic, with one writing: “Aw. You hitched your wagon to a racist sociopath and it didn’t work out?”

Another added: “the trumps used me?? For their personal gain??? with no interest in helping me??? what????”

And a third added: “Maybe y’all will slowly start to realize how the entire family, from the top down, has never ever *ever* cared about anyone but themselves. We’ve been yelling it for years. This is the reality.”

There was some humour to be found in the situation, with former Wyoming Democrat Sara Burlingame posting: “‘Too innocent and too gay’ was floated and dismissed as a campaign slogan for me in 2022…”

Related: Nicolas Cage will play Joe Exotic in a new Tiger King series