Carole Baskin Reacts To Ex-Husband’s Family Airing Commercial During ‘Dancing With The Stars’

Published on September 16, 2020.

ABC

Carole Baskin is speaking out following her ex-husband’s family airing a commercial during her Dancing with the Stars debut.

The Tiger King star made her debut on the dance competition series on Monday night where she danced a Paso Doble to “Eye of the Tiger” with her partner, Pasha Pashkov. During the show, Baskin’s ex-husband’s family aired an ad asking for leads on the case of their missing family member, Don Lewis.

The commercial brought up the 1997 disappearance of Baskin’s second husband, Don Lewis, whose story was featured in Netflix’s Tiger King. Joe Exotic claimed on the docuseries that Baskin killed Lewis, but Baskin strongly denied the allegation. The ad featured Lewis’ three daughters, Gale, Lynda, and Donna, along with his former assistant, Anne McQueen, and the family attorney.

“I have not seen the ad. I am not at all surprised,” Baskin told ET following her performance. “It’s just been a huge publicity stunt on their part so what more could they possibly do than that?”

Baskin continued by addressing the negativity and hate she receives on social media. She advised them to “find something to do that’s worthwhile with your life.”

“Spending time worrying about what I’m doing is probably not a really good use of your time,” she said. “I’m not worried about what people say because even when they’re saying things that [are] negative, it’s keeping the conversation out there [about cats] in the public eye. As long as I can keep that conversation out there, I can keep the cats in the spotlight and that’s my goal.”

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.