- Tiger King fans pointed out on Twitter that Doc Antle was in Britney Spears 2001 VMAs performance.
- He handled a tiger on stage, while she did her infamous "Slave 4 U" dance with a live snake.
- Doc Antle told MTV News that the tiger involved in the performance has since died.
Way back before Doc Antle was making your jaw drop on Netflix's Tiger King with his multiple wives(?) and love of telling filmmakers how they should set up a shot, he was hanging with pop star Britney Spears at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.
Doc (real name: Mahamayavi Bhagavan Kevin Antle) was actually onstage with Brit back when she did her infamous "Slave 4 U" dance with a live snake on her shoulders. You know, that one that blew everyone away and is still memorable today.
After Tiger King premiered on Netflix, Twitter users pointed out that yup, you can spot Doc in the background with a tiger while Britney did her thing on stage. Proof:
Btw, here's the full video of Brit's VMAs performance, since you know you want to rewatch it:
Others on the social media platform also shared a pic of Britney sitting next to a woman who looks a lot like fellow Tiger King star Carole Baskin at the 2002 VMAs, but it’s unclear if the woman is, in fact, Carole. She is rocking an animal print dress, a la CB, so…maybe? If so, WTH is going on here?!
As for the tiger that Doc was casually handling in the background of Brit’s performance…he was a rare golden tabby tiger and Doc told MTV News in 2016 that his tiger has since died.
Doc actually has video of Britney's performance on his website's bio, which also mentions that he's worked on more than 500 films (Ace Ventura, Dr. Dolittle, Mighty Joe Young, Disney’s Jungle Book), documentaries, TV shows, and ads.
