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    Kate McKinnon’s “Joe Exotic” series ordered by NBCUniversal

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1321 Views
    Kate McKinnon arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The saga of Joe Exotic is getting another Hollywood chapter, with McKinnon starring as his rival in a limited TV series. The “Saturday Night Live” star will play Carole Baskin, who sought to shut down Joseph Maldonado-Passage’s for-profit breeding of big cats. The conflict became a pop culture sensation with Netflix’s docuseries “Tiger King.” (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    The saga of Joe Exotic is getting another Hollywood chapter, with Kate McKinnon starring as his rival in a limited TV series.

    The "Saturday Night Live" star will play Carole Baskin, who sought to shut down Joseph Maldonado-Passage's for-profit breeding of big cats. The conflict became a pop culture sensation with Netflix's docuseries "Tiger King."

    The series, ordered without a pilot episode, will be based on the Wondery podcast "Joe Exotic," NBCUniversal Television and Streaming said Tuesday.

    It's planned for release across three corporate siblings: the NBC broadcast network, cable's USA channel and the recently launched Peacock streaming service, NBC Universal said.

    McKinnon also will be an executiver producer for the show with the working title of "Joe Exotic," Maldonado-Passage's nickname. He's also known by the surname Schreibvogel. 

    Maldonado-Passage is serving a 22-year federal prison term for killing five tigers and plotting to have Baskin killed. In June, a federal judge awarded Baskin ownership of the private Oklahoma zoo run by Maldonado-Passage.

    The Joe Exotic role has yet to be cast, NBCUniversal said. Production and release dates were not announced.

    Tags:Joe ExoticKate MckinnonNBCUniversal



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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