Dancing With The Stars: Carole Baskin calls advert about missing ex-husband a ‘publicity stunt’
Baskin says she was only told about the advert 10 minutes before her ‘Dancing With The Stars’ debut
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Carole Baskin says she was “not surprised” after an advert about her missing ex-husband aired during her Dancing With The Stars debut.
The animal rights activist, who rose to fame on Netflix docuseries Tiger King, made her first appearance on the competition series on Monday (14 September) with a paso doble to “Eye Of The Tiger”.
However, her performance was interrupted by a paid-for advert from the family of her second husband Don Lewis, who declared their intention to reward $100,000 (£80,000) to any individual with answers about his disappearance in 1997.
Throughout Tiger King, Baskin was accused of killing Lewis and feeding his body to tigers. Baskin has always denied any involvement in Lewis’s disappearance and is not a suspect or person of interest in the ongoing case.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Baskin said that she hadn’t seen the advert but was “not at all surprised” by its existence.
"It's just been a huge publicity stunt on their part so what more could they possibly do than that,” she said.
In a separate response to Metro.co.uk, Baskin revealed that she was told about the trailer running just 10 minutes before she took to the dance floor, adding: “You can see that it did not keep me from bringing the best performance of my two weeks of learning.”
The advert starred Lewis’s three daughters, Gale, Lynda and Donna, as well as Lewis’s former assistant. All four appeared in the original Tiger King documentary.
John M Phillips, the family’s attorney, says in the advert that Lewis’s family “deserves answers and they deserve justice”, asking: “Do you know who did this or whether Carole Baskin was involved?”
Earlier this month, a new witness came forward with possible information about the night Lewis went missing.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments