Chances are that during the early weeks of the pandemic, you spent more time with Carole Baskin than your best friends. But the big cat rights activist, who rose to national fame last year with Netflix‘s Tiger King, isn’t so keen on returning to the small screen: Baskin and her husband, Harold, are suing the streaming giant for using footage of her in the forthcoming sequel, Tiger King 2.
According to Variety, the colorful couple filed suit in their Tampa hometown Monday (November 1st) against both Netflix and the show’s production company, Royal Goode Productions. In the documents, Baskin alleges that Royal Goode breached contract by continuing to use footage of her in Tiger King 2, as they had only legally agreed to appear in the docuseries’ first season. The Baskins also added that they were shocked to see footage of them had been used in the trailer for the follow-up season, demanding that all clips of them be removed henceforth.
“Understanding that the Appearance Releases limited Royal Goode Productions’ use of the footage of the Baskins and Big Cat Rescue to the single, initial documentary motion picture, the Baskins believed that any sequel – though odious – would not include any of their footage,” the document reads. “The Appearance Releases limited Royal Goode Productions’ right to use film footage of the Baskins to ‘a documentary motion picture.’”
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The lawsuit continues: “Throughout the Appearance Releases there is only reference to and mention of ‘the Picture.’ No mention is made of granting Royal Goode Production sequel rights, rights to create derivative works from ‘the Picture’ or additional seasons or episodes. By utilizing the film footage of the Baskins and Big Cat Rescue secured by Royal Goode Productions under the Appearance Releases in ‘sizzle reels’ and promotional trailers for the sequel entitled Tiger King 2, the Defendants are in breach of the terms of the Appearance Releases.”
Tiger King 2, which comes to Netflix November 17th, will dig deeper into the mysterious disappearance of Baskin’s first husband, Don Lewis; some viewers, including one O.J. Simpson, firmly abide by the suspicion that Baskin killed him. Since Tiger King‘s premiere, she’s detested the show for its insinuation that she was involved with Lewis’ disappearance.
Still, things have been looking up for the Big Cat Rescue CEO: In June 2020, she was named the new owner of Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, effectively ending her years-long feud with the Tiger King himself, Joe Exotic. (As a refresher: In 2019, Exotic was found guilty of hiring a hitman to kill Baskin.) Meanwhile, both Peacock and Amazon currently have shows about Exotic and his twisted circle of cat people in the works. Revisit the trailer for Tiger King 2 below.
