Carole Baskin sued for ‘defamation’ by missing husband Don Lewis’ family

Carole Baskin is reportedly being sued for defamation by her missing ex-husband Don Lewis’ family.

His daughters Gale, Lynda and Donna and his former assistant Anne McQueen have taken legal action against the Tiger King star, 59, as they claim she was ‘complicit’ with jokes made by judges about his disappearance during her current stint Dancing With The Stars.

The big-cat rights activist’s former spouse went missing in 1997, six years after they married in 1991, and was legally declared dead in 2002 as he is yet to be found.  

In Netflix hit Tiger King, the CEO of Big Cat Rescue is blamed for Don’s disappearance and accused of ‘feeding him to the tigers’ by her rival Joe Exotic -claims she has fiercely denied. 

Amid the rumours, TikTok users poked fun at the mystery by reimagining the words to Megan Thee Stallion’s chart-topping track Savage.    

The lyrics say: ‘Carole Baskin killed her husband, whacked him. Can’t convince me that it didn’t happen. Fed him to tigers, they snackin’. What’s happening?’ 

According to TMZ, legal documents state that Don’s relatives have an issue with Carole failing to dispute DWTS judge Bruno Tonioli when he called her paso doble ‘sedated’ and quipped she didn’t quite ‘kill’ it. 

The media personality is also facing a lawsuit for promising to ‘really kill it next week’ on the celebrity dance show during an interview on Good Morning Britain.

Don’s family attorney John Phillips claims Carole settled a libel and slander case from Anne for $50,000.   

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Carole and an ABC spokesperson for further comment.  

Earlier this month, Carole called out Don’s loved ones for suggesting she was involved with his disappearance in a commercial. 

She described the ad-spot a ‘huge publicity stunt’ while appearing on Entertainment Tonight with partner Pasha Pashkov following her DWTS premiere.  

‘I’m not at all surprised, it’s a huge publicity stunt on their part. What more could they possibly do than that?’ she went on about the spot, which only aired on TV in Florida but is available online.

The animal activist also urged trolls 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.’ 

During Tuesday’s show, judges Bruno, Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough decided to save Carole and sent Charles Oakley home in the first elimination of the series.