Transgender man appeared on Netflix documentary Tiger King and who was mauled by a tiger while working at a roadside zoo in Oklahoma appeared in a bizarre ad for a personal injury law firm.
Although Saff’s story doesn’t include a successful personal injury lawsuit, he stars in a commercial for Georgia law firm Bader Scott where he tells the story of his workplace injury that cost him a part. of his arm and humblebrags that he immediately went back to work “without compensation”.
Related: Tiger King’s ‘Joe Exotic’ Files $94 Million Anti-Gay Discrimination Lawsuit
Saff lost his arm while working for the gay and often outrageous Joe Exotic, but he decided not to sue his employer. In fact, Saff refused to undergo years of surgeries and rehabilitation to get his hand back, instead asking doctors to amputate his arm so he could get back to work quickly.
He explained how he was attacked by a tiger, taken to hospital and found he could still use his arm to a limited degree. He could write his name and pick up small objects.
“I had high hopes,” Saff said.
But a doctor then told him he would have to undergo ‘years of reconstructive surgery’ and ‘a lot of work to get this hand to work’ with no assurances that he would ever regain full use of his hand.
So he decided to tell the doctor to amputate his arm.
“I had to relearn how to live with one hand, compared to the two I was used to for almost 30 years,” Saff explained. “It was kinda hard for me a bit.”
He said that “there are a lot of jobs that I physically can’t do” due to his workplace injury, but he didn’t ask for compensation because “at the time it was literally the last thing I thought”.
“I was able to work with these animals and that was my reward,” he said, adding that he still believes he made the right decision.
So…so why does he appear in an ad for a personal injury law firm? Why is he telling people they should seek justice in civil court for their work-related injuries, even though he didn’t sue after his horrific injury?
“It was a privilege for me to be able to return to work without compensation” for his injury, he said. “A lot of Americans don’t have that privilege.”
“I just got lucky, really.”
“Your injuries are permanent and lifelong,” Saff concludes. “Your job is not.”
Tiger King showed the life of workers in several animal parks and sanctuaries with large dangerous animals. The documentary shows employees working 16 hours a day, every day, for very little pay.
An employee at the Joe Exotic animal park, where Saff worked, said they were paid $150 a week and workers often had to buy meat for the animals to find food for themselves.
Throughout the series, Saff has been poorly reviewed, even though he uses “he” pronouns and identifies as a “guy”. In the personal injury ad, however, part of the 911 call made by a colleague after the 2013 tiger attack is played, and the colleague correctly refers to Saff with the pronouns “he”.
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