Netflix's 'The Kings of Tupelo' is about an Elvis impersonator framed for plotting to kill Barack Obama. Here's what happened to Paul Kevin Curtis.
Netflix
- Netflix's "The Kings of Tupelo" is about an Elvis impersonator called Paul Kevin Curtis.
- He went down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories after he said he discovered a fridge full of body parts.
- In 2013, he was accused of using ricin to try to assassinate Barack Obama.
Netflix is continuing its trend of telling true crime stories that seem almost too wild to be true with "The Kings of Tupelo."
The three-part docuseries follows Paul Kevin Curtis, an Elvis impersonator from Tupelo, Mississippi, who was accused of using the poison ricin to try to assassinate Barack Obama in 2013.
As shown in the series, Curtis was a self-employed janitor in 1999 when he said he discovered a fridge full of body parts while cleaning the morgue at the North Mississippi Medical Center. After raising the issue with management, Curtis claims he was ejected from the building by security guards and was told he was banned from the hospital. North Mississippi Medical Center did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
He attempted to publicize his unfounded theories that the body parts were being used for an illegal operation. But when the media ignored him, Curtis approached James Everett Dutschke, a Wayne Newton impersonator, who also lived in Tupelo.
In 2013, GQ reported that Dutschke owned an independent newspaper and promised to publish any story that the mainstream media wouldn't. However, the pair's relationship soured when he refused to publish Curtis' story, fearing it could harm his chances of starting a political career.
This led to a feud between the two men, and Dutschke framed Curtis for attempting to assassinate Obama.
Dutschke sent letters containing ricin, signed with Curtis' name, to Obama in April 2013, as well as US Senator Roger Wicker and Lee County Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland.
The authorities arrested Curtis on April 17, 2013, but quickly established that Dutschke was the culprit when they found his DNA on a dust mask that he wore while making the ricin. Curtis was released without charge.
Paul Kevin Curtis avoided prison and still performs in Tupelo
Dutschke pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sending the ricin letters.
Curtis posts pictures and videos on Instagram of him singing, but doesn't share much about his personal life.
He has made a few promotional posts about "The Kings of Tupelo," which he appears in throughout.
In one post, he wrote, "Watch my life story on Netflix on December 13, 2024. I am the first Elvis Presley impersonator ever framed in a presidential assassination plot and lived to tell the story."