Why Are Cardi B & Carole Baskin Feuding?: Inside The Chaotic 'Tiger King'-'WAP' Drama
Cardi B and Carole Baskin have been fighting like (big) cats and dogs lately.
Odd pair to come to blows, right? It all began when animal rights activist and Tiger King star Carole Baskin called out Cardi B for using large cats in her new music video with Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”. Carole told Entertainment Weekly soon after the video's release that the musician had likely used “one of the big cat pimps, who makes a living from beating, shocking and starving cats to make them stand on cue in front of a green screen in a studio.”
While it is unclear if the animals were actually real or the result of CGI, Carole told Billboard that even the depiction of big cats in this way glamourises the destructive and cruel practice of keeping big cats as pets. “I was happy to see that it does appear to all be Photoshopped. It didn’t look like the cats were really in the rooms with the singers. In fact, probably most of the rooms were Photoshopped in via green screen.”
Cardi B then got wind of the accusations and responded via an interview with i-D. “Like, that’s just ridiculous, you know?” she said. “Oh, Lord. Like, girl, you killed your goddamn husband,” Cardi said, referencing Don Lewis, Carole's missing ex-husband.
Baskin wasn't much impressed with this, and reportedly told the Mirror Online: "When most people are called out for their involvement in cruelty to animals they know there is no justification that will persuade others, so they have to deflect the conversation to something else.”
As is outlined in the Tiger King doc, Carole’s ex-husband Don Lewis allegedly filed a restraining order against her before he went missing back in 1997, saying she was trying to kill him. Soon after, a day before a scheduled trip to Costa Rica, Don mysteriously disappeared. Though his body was never found, he was legally declared dead in 2002.
Carole, who received funds from most of Don's USD $6 million estate, as well as full ownership of their sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue Corporation, has vehemently denied any involvement in his vanishing, and it's become a widely contested topic in the cultural zeitgiest ever since the show dropped on Netflix.
Last week, Don’s family held a press conference in Tampa, Florida, announcing they were suing Carole and Don’s handyman, Kenny Farr, as well a woman listed as a witness on Don’s will, demanding that they turn over any information on his disappearance. They also thanked supporters that have come forward since the documentary aired.
“Amazingly, our little family tragedy has become your tragedy,” Don’s daughter, Gale Rathbone, said during the press conference. “Our search for closure and truth has become your mission also. We all know by now that [Lewis] was not a perfect man. But do only the perfect among us deserve justice?”
Will this be the last we hear of the Carole Baskin-Cardi B fiasco? Jury's out, but we'll keep you posted either way.
Main Image Credit: Tiger King, Netflix & "WAP", Cardi B
