Miranda Lambert slammed for picture with Joe Exotic… but insists she had no idea about his history

Miranda Lambert is being slammed for sharing a photo with controversial Tiger King personality Joseph ‘Joe Exotic’ Maldonado-Passage.

Fans said they were disappointed and embarrassed by the self-avowed animal lover after she posted a throwback snap with the convicted felon, glibly hashtagging the post ‘#WayTooPrettyForPrison.’

Maldonado-Passage is currently in prison for 17 federal charges of animal abuse, in addition to two counts of murder for hire.

Miranda later claimed she was unaware of Joe’s history of animal abuse in an apology message.

‘Here’s a little Monday memory for y’all. #TigerKing #WayTooPrettyForPrison,’ the country star – who is the founder of the pet adoption non-profit MuttNation – captioned the three photos. 

In the photos Lambert, 36, posed with Joe, his ex-husband John Finlay and two other workers from his zoo, one of whom was Kelci ‘Saff’ Saffery, who is featured in the documentary series. Lambert and Joe were also snapped near a large yellow Human Society of Tulsa truck.  

Fans were quick to attack the country singer with one saying ‘I’ve been a fan of yours for 10+ years, but he killed innocent and healthy tigers.’

‘Yikes. This is embarrassing,’ one wrote, with another saying ‘Surprised that you would post this considering you [sic] love of animals???? Odd!’ 

Someone else added: ‘That’s not a pic I would be proud of let alone post on social media. Very disappointed.’ 

Just hours later Lambert issued a statement on her Twitter page, saying she had never been to his zoo and knew nothing of his treatment of animals and that their meeting was through a volunteer opportunity. 

‘Backstory,’ she wrote. ‘During Hurricane Harvey, the MuttNation Team went to Houston to help relocate existing shelter dogs to free up shelter dogs to free up shelter space for animals separated by their owners.’

Adding: ‘MuttNation asked volunteers who could transport some dogs from Houston to shelters in Oklahoma, where there was more room and they could be treated and adopted.’ 

Then came meeting Joe, the Kerosene artist continued: ‘Some guy named Joe volunteered his trailer and staff. Now I know it’s “Joe Exotic” I’ve never been to his zoo and I didn’t even know he had tiger.’

‘OBVIOUSLY I’d never condone animals being treated badly,’ she wrote making a clear statement about her view of animal treatment. 

In 2019, Joe was sentenced to 22 years in prison for counts of murder-for-hire plot, illegal animal trading and violations of the Endangered Species Act.  

She recently confessed her anxiety has been ‘through the roof’ amid COVID-19. 

Lambert took to social media on Friday to reveal she’s struggled over the past few weeks but is finally feeling a little better with the help of her husband  Brendan Mcloughlin, 27.      

‘I haven’t really known what to say on social media during all this. I’m not great at socials anyway and a time like this makes it that much more difficult for me to figure out how to be,’ she began the lengthy post.