Carole Baskin's rivalry with Joe Exotic is a prevalent storyline throughout Netflix's Tiger King. While the attention surrounding the docu-series has made the characters involved cultural sensations, Baskin and her husband are not pleased with the way Netflix depicted her. In fact, they claim the producers "betrayed" them and put their lives at risk.
During a conversation with the Tampa Bay Times, Baskin revealed that she is receiving prank calls and death threats from fans of the series. The severity and volume of these calls have prevented her from doing daily tasks, like riding her bike to work. As an animal rights advocate, Baskin trusted the filmmakers due to their history working in animal protection. Now her husband feels like the filmmakers double-crossed them with the way they portrayed his wife.
"There’s almost no way to describe the intensity of the feeling of betrayal," Howard Baskin said.
Carole was also shocked Netflix decided to have a whole episode focused on the disappearance of her ex-husband, Don Lewis. This led to theories of Baskin's hand in Lewis' disappearance. It has also sparked social media memes claiming that "Carole did it."
She believes that this energy should have been put into showing how poorly Joe Exotic treated his animals and that his behavior should have been turned into a social media joke.
"[Viewers] saw those cubs being dragged away from their mother. Where are those memes?" Baskin said. "Where are those comments?"
Tiger King co-producer Eric Goode responded to Baskin's complaints by telling the Los Angeles Times Baskin willingly offered the information.
"Carole talked about her personal life, her childhood, abuse from her first and second husband, the disappearance of her ex, Don Lewis," Goode said. "She certainly wasn’t coerced."
Baskin also is fighting claims that she mistreats her animals. Debbie Leahy, senior strategist of captive wildlife at the Humane Society, has supported Baskin, telling the Independent: "We hold Big Cat Rescue and the Baskins in highest regard. Not many sanctuaries do rescue and advocacy and Big Cat Rescue does both and they do them very well."
