Anna Daniels
Baskin said that Goode and Chaiklin had led her to believe that their doc would do for big cats in captivity what Blackfish did for killer whales being mistreated by Sea World, and to the filmmakers’ credit, Tiger King did shed some light on that issue. When the players in your story are so singularly bizarre, though, it’s difficult not to let them take center stage — and the series’ main focus is on the feud between Exotic and Baskin, which nearly turned deadly on multiple occasions. (Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill Baskin.)
On her blog, Baskin said she felt betrayed by the directors. “[Tiger King has] the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers,” she wrote. “As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims… I never threatened him and I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance.”
Her protests would hold a bit more water if she had simply shut down this line of inquiry during her time in front of the cameras for Tiger King, but she did not — something which Goode and Chaiklin were quick to point out when asked about Baskin’s reaction to their work.
Written by: Looper
