This week, we have a very special Christmas themed episode where we dish about cinematic parallels between the davinci code and bad moms christmas, the best gay roles for James Corden to play next, Tiny Tim being the newest cage dancer at the House of Yes, and much more. We are joined by the iconic Carole Baskin ! She is an American big-cat rights activist and CEO of Big Cat Rescue (a non-profit animal sanctuary) best known for her appearances in Netflix's 'Tiger King' and ABC'S 'Dancing With The Stars.' In this episode, she spills all of the tea about her life as an animal rights activist, 'Tiger King,' her iconic wedding photos, and amazing time on 'Dancing With The Stars.' . You can donate to and support her animal sanctuary here: https://bigcatrescue.org/donate/
Follow me on instagram to see more content, stay updated on upcoming episodes and send me questions for future guests!
https://www.instagram.com/sarahrlazarus
This week, we have a very special Christmas themed episode where we dish about cinematic parallels between the davinci code and bad moms christmas, the best gay roles for James Corden to play next, Tiny Tim being the newest cage dancer at the House of Yes, and much more. We are joined by the iconic Carole Baskin ! She is an American big-cat rights activist and CEO of Big Cat Rescue (a non-profit animal sanctuary) best known for her appearances in Netflix's 'Tiger King' and ABC'S 'Dancing With The Stars.' In this episode, she spills all of the tea about her life as an animal rights activist, 'Tiger King,' her iconic wedding photos, and amazing time on 'Dancing With The Stars.' . You can donate to and support her animal sanctuary here: https://bigcatrescue.org/donate/
Follow me on instagram to see more content, stay updated on upcoming episodes and send me questions for future guests!
https://www.instagram.com/sarahrlazarus
Hello, Hello everyone. Welcome to wish you were weird.
Vinny:The show where we talk about everything you've always wanted to know more about,
Sarah Lazarus:including but not limited to durag
Vinny:dating
Sarah Lazarus:politics,
Vinny:nine cinematic parallels between the Da Vinci Code and bad mom's Christmas
Sarah Lazarus:the best gay roles for James Corden to play next,
Vinny:how to shut the fuck up when you're Alyssa green,
Sarah Lazarus:eight ways to believe macky Morrison from his portrayal as the Grinch
Vinny:diving deep into Santa Clauses disturbing voter history.
Sarah Lazarus:How Jimmy Stewart was the perfect example of toxic masculinity in It's a Wonderful Life.
Vinny:I'm the boy who just hired Tiny Tim as House of Yes, his newest cage dancer. Ebenezer splooge.
Sarah Lazarus:The girl who killed Jesus, Lazarus.
Vinny:Dark right to the point.
Sarah Lazarus:Know what Hey, you know, we accept the love we think we deserve his weight. Okay, in case anyone didn't know my last name is Lazarus. But also did Lazarus kill him? Was he the one or he was just like there,
Vinny:their Lazarus was brought back to life by
Sarah Lazarus:right but like, what was his like? damage? Like, what was his deal? Was he just around? Yeah. Yeah, I know. But like, what was his like? Was he just a guy who died? And Jesus is like, Yo, I'm gonna bring you back. Like, is that what happened?
Vinny:Essentially, he ran around making fucking miracles. And now we celebrate Christmas Miss thing.
Sarah Lazarus:Wait, but no, I'm just I just want to clarify. What did Lazarus do? Was Lazarus making miracles? Like what was? Or was he just a guy was the miracle. So he's just a guy who got lucky, essentially,
Vinny:honestly, exactly. that that would be like happen to me. Like, I would just be like hanging out and I would like die. And then someone would just be like, dude, you're coming back. gettin the band back together
Sarah Lazarus:we're getting the band back together. You know, you're the only one is a fan of me saying that. And I really appreciate that. Basically, I just had this bit I would do a lot of times where I would just go say this out of nowhere. I would be like, we're getting the band back together.
Vinny:And then only I would laugh.
Sarah Lazarus:But that's all I would need. So how are you celebrating your Christmas?
Vinny:eating lots of cookies. I really started nothing interesting. Nothing out of the ordinary. Oh my god, Mikey got me the best Christmas gift ever. He got me a fucking Scarlet Witch action figure. She's my favorite Avenger.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my gosh, there's like random things you like like the Avengers and like ponzu sauce and the show you watch not survivor or the other one big brother. It's like random things
Vinny:big brother.
Sarah Lazarus:But anyway, also we're talking about the prom. The movie the prom that just came out and James Corden? You haven't seen it yet. But James Corden? It was like literally fucking ridiculous. I'm like, you know, I'm not someone who's like always like looking to like, be offended and call people out for shit. But he was like, objectively offensive.
Vinny:No role. What demographic was he offensive towards? White twinks? They could struggle.
Sarah Lazarus:He was Yeah, white. You know, he was coming after those white twinks got no, but he literally was like,
Vinny:Oh, no. wrist flop. Yeah, it was a swappable list on. That's again,
Sarah Lazarus:literally I don't know what the fuck Ryan Murphy was thinking he was he was literally like, let's get the band back together. His most famous friends I guess. I don't know. People were saying what's his name could have played that role. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is Burgess Titus Burgess. Yeah.
Vinny:Oh my god. Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:wish he would have been good in that role.
Vinny:So for this episode, me and Sarah are going to be doing two truths and a lie holiday movies edition. Sarah if you would like to begin
Sarah Lazarus:I would. Here's my first one. Poland loves home alone. two, Steve Martin turned down the role of Harry lime and home alone. Three. Marv was supposed to have gotten a spin off.
Vinny:Marv does not deserve a spin off. I'm gonna say that one is false.
Sarah Lazarus:Nope. That was true. He was supposed to have a spin off. The one that's false is Steve Martin was didn't turn down the role but Robert De Niro did turn down the role of Harry but also here's the thing. I have no idea Harry had a last name. And it was lime.
Vinny:Yeah, I when you said Harry lime. I was like Who the fuck is Harry Lime. Yeah, that's a gross name.
Sarah Lazarus:I know but apparently Poland loves home alone. It is like a national nationally celebrated event to like watch home alone on Christmas and it's a big deal there. I mean it's here I guess too but like
Vinny:I love the poles. Go to Poland.
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah, that's that's the first place I want to go to after Coronavirus
Vinny:is Poland.
Sarah Lazarus:I think I can go for free because I'm Jewish and there's like a holocaust thing
Vinny:you literally already did birthright.
Sarah Lazarus:I can do that one too.
Vinny:How can I come this time?
Sarah Lazarus:Who the fuck wants to go to these places? It's like Israel and Poland. Like, I'm okay. No, I'm not gonna shit on these places. But like, you know, it's not like Italian vacation. Can you get an Italian vacation? Can you get that?
Vinny:I mean, I'm young and gay so I can get a free trip to Berlin. I just have to spend enough time in flaming saddles.
Sarah Lazarus:You should do that. You should actually okay. If you go to Berlin. I'll like go to I'll go there. into Berlin.
Vinny:I would love my turn back number one. The movie Gremlins was written by Christopher Columbus. Fact number two. The actual puppets from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer were appraised on the TV Antiques Roadshow by an unwitting owner who thought they were just toys. In fact number three, Judy, the elf from the Santa Claus is canonically Jewish tough one. I know.
Sarah Lazarus:I know. Christopher Columbus is like a director. So I don't know if that's a trick question.
Vinny:It's absolutely a trick question. I'll just give you that hint right away because I think you're having issues with this one. Okay, I'm
Sarah Lazarus:gonna say Judy the elf one
Vinny:form is it is true Judy. The elf does never confirm nor deny her religious affiliations in the movie The Santa Claus I don't even remember to the elf, who the fuck is Judy Not it's so funny. She's like this 10 year old girl who goes up to who's the guy who's the guy in Santa Claus. 10 Alan and Alan. Yeah, she goes out to Tim Allen. And she's like, Hi, I'm Judy. And he's like, you're 10 and she's like, actually im 900. Like, oh, you look very good for your age. And she was like, I'm seeing someone in HR You pervert. It's just so funny. She doesn't say pervert, but
Sarah Lazarus:we should get the Marilyn Monroe Tik Tok girl.
Vinny:You mean? Jasmine Chiswell?
Sarah Lazarus:Okay, so dangerous.
Vinny:I can dress up like a lobster. Go shopping.
Sarah Lazarus:A few things. I love the one note to make a Molotov cocktail. People have been doing that to her and she was so mad about it. Oh, she's like, you know the bullying is not nice. People are making fun of my voice.
Vinny:Oh, we're not making fun of your voice we're making fun of everything
Sarah Lazarus:they're like videos of her talking normal.
Vinny:That's like that's like that one video of Britney Spears singing like normally.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, baby baby.
Mr. DeSeno:No she sounds really good, isn't it? It's not like oh, booboo. No sounds like very great. Yes. For this next section, me and Sarah have selected an organization that we think is really important. So the organization that we've donated to this episode is No Kid Hungry and you can find them at nokidhungry.org because of COVID there are a lot of people in this country going hungry right now, which is especially heartbreaking during the holidays. So donating to you know, food banks and places that can feed people who are you know, food insecure is really important. If you're listening and you have a cause a GoFundMe, an organization that you're passionate about that you think is really cool. Let us know you can dm us and we will donate it to it and shout it out next time on our next episode. Um, so we find you on social media
Sarah Lazarus:at theeslaz with two E's, the slabs
Vinny:and you can find me at the rosetta stoned on Instagram. That's the Rosetta Stoned like the tablet or the D at the end.
Sarah Lazarus:If you are our listener and you're in Brazil, I really want to know who you are because I'm just curious as to who is listening to us in Brazil. That's amazing. And dm either of us on Instagram because we'd love to know who you are.
Vinny:Oh my god. Shout you out on the next episode. Segment mean so just want to take a moment to shout out an incredible artist who has also been so supportive of our podcast and that artist is Molly Frie. She is a singer songwriter recording artists. You can find her on Spotify at Molly Frie that's mo l Li e space fri e She's amazing. I love her album QOL. I listened to it all the time. And if you're a listener of our podcast, you should also listen to it and you're about to because we're gonna play a segment from her song 4am From her latest album QOL, here it is.
Mollie Frie:To again whether you want me to just leave you leave, he leave me You took too long as not your time to be this way.
Sarah Lazarus:Hey, all you cool cats and kittens. Our next guest needs no introduction, but we are giving it to you. Anyway,
Mr. DeSeno:she's an American big cat rights activist and CEO of Big Cat Rescue a nonprofit Animal Sanctuary based near Tampa, Florida.
Sarah Lazarus:You've probably seen her and Netflix is Tiger King and ABCs Dancing with the Stars.
Mr. DeSeno:Please welcome Carol Baskin.
Carole Baskin:You have to do all of that in house. Dancing with the Stars since we have no audience.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my gosh.
Vinny:So how are you doing? We never do interviews in the morning. This is so nice.
Carole Baskin:We do usually
Sarah Lazarus:like 8pm we work with a lot of drag queens, so we're, yeah. Comedians, everyone's like, getting up.
Carole Baskin:I gotta say when I was on Dancing with the Stars, and I had the tiger my thought was when the makeup I got through with me and I love him to pieces. It was like, you know, it looked like a drag queen, right?
Sarah Lazarus:But that's how you want to look. We're gonna ask you all about that, because that was so iconic. And you know what it filled our all of our dreams of what you would do on the show to be you want to know, where were you born? What was your childhood and upbringing, like
Carole Baskin:I was born at the Air Force Base to lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. My father was only in for four years is in the Air Force. And then we moved back to Florida. And my father has always worked a number of different jobs. He was very interesting character. So he worked as a private detective. He worked. Yeah, that was always fun. I was never allowed to tell any of my friends what he did for a living. I could write his cover stories for my mother was the secretary through all of that. And then my father was also a flight instructor. So we moved to Panama City, Florida for a while where he did flight instruction. And then we moved to West Virginia. My father became the private pilot for governor arch more in West Virginia. But then when arch Moore was ousted by Governor Rockefeller, they sold all of the planes and helicopters my father couldn't fly helicopter. And so I went to work for governor Rockefeller at the age of 15. And to see him go safely at the time, but I hate the cold. I very quickly came back to Florida because I love it hot. Yeah, I
Sarah Lazarus:totally agree. I went, I was living in Florida. Then I went to New York. And I was like, I need to get out of the heat. And then now I'm living there in New York for four years. And I'm like, I hate this get out of here.
Vinny:I can associate with. So when did you first become interested in rescuing big cats
Carole Baskin:always wanted to save domestic cats. When I was eight years old. My mother's mother, my grandmother insisted that I take our stray cat who had eight kittens to the shelter. And she told me that cat was going to get a great home. And I learned later that most of the cats who enter shelters by they're killed because people don't adopt them. And so my goal has always been to end the euthanasia of healthy cats and kittens and shelters by aggressive spay and neuter programs. But I had because of the fact that I was involved with cats. I was often at veterinary offices. And so when I was 17, cat came in about cat that have been hit by a car, and the vets can fix them up in 30 minutes or so maybe an hour. But then there's months of rehab, and they knew that I would take care of her and so they asked if I would take the cat home, rehab her and then release her back to the wild, which I did. And so I had been doing that since I was 17 years old. When Don and I were married and we were at an animal auction buying llamas because we were in real estate for a living. So we would just turn the llamas loose and they would graze about eye level across the entire property. So it was like clear all of the undergrowth. Then we'd moved along to the next parcel. And so we were buying llamas in 1992 when a guy came in with a bobcat for sale, and the guy next to me started bidding on the bobcat, and I leaned over and I said when that cat grows up, she's gonna tear your face off. And he's he said, I'm a taxidermist. I'm just going to clover in the head of the parking lot and make a decoration out of her.
Vinny:Oh my gosh, yeah,
Carole Baskin:I had that same same Reaction except I was
Sarah Lazarus:Yes. Wait, can bawling my eyes out. And so my husband started bidding and we bid until we brought that cat home. But she had been declawed if she couldn't be released back to the wild. And she, she was every bit as bad as I told the guy she was going to be. And so my husband started looking around for a playmate for her because she was beating the snot out of our German Shepherd. And this guy said, I'll sell you some kittens, but you've got to come in person. And that was a fur farm in Minnesota. We didn't know it was a fur farm till we got there. And it was just horrific. We had to put handkerchiefs over our faces, because the flies in there were so thick because of the filth that these work animals were living in. And as I was asking
Carole Baskin:you talk about that more? I want to know how the guy, if there was this big of a market for these animals as pets, he said, Oh no, we're for farm, we'll just raise them up until they're a year old and slaughtered them for their fur. And they can only use this little piece of belly for the little white for the spot. So it takes like 30 podcasts just to make a little short stole. And there was this pile of dead cats in the corner, and they were missing their bellies. And I just it was like a freight train was running through my head. So I asked him if there was this big of a market for these animals as pets when he said that they were going to slaughter them. And I found this pile of cats, these cats were being killed for this little piece of spotted belly fur, I just burst into tears. And I could hear through this like freight train that was running through my head, my husband say how much for every cat here. And so we came home with 56 bob cats and kittens. We went into town, we got every crate every bucket, every toolbox, we could drill holes into everything to move all of these guests to Florida, my daughter was 12 at the time, so she was helping me feed the cats because they had to be fed every four hours around the clock. And that led from that rescue 56 cats The next year, the guy said he had more kittens. And we thought you know what, we didn't fix the problem. So we made a deal with him that we take every adult and every kitten with the promise that they never sell, or they never kill big cats again for their fur. And so we bought out the fur farm bought 28 more cats out the following year. And then there was another farm we found out about and we bought that one out that was 22 cats. And then people started calling and saying, Would you take my lion which get my tiger? And I'm like, What are people doing with lions and tigers. And so in each of these cases, I thought, you know, this is an easy thing to fix, right? I can just buy the animal and save them, I can put actually pushing that and getting that bill passed? What them in a pet home. Well, that didn't work. They came right ba k about a year or two later wh n they got too big to handle an they start peeing all over th house, which is what they al do. And so we realized that th only way we were going took us a while to figure this out. Bu by about 97-98 we figured the o ly way we were going to end t e problem was to stop the b eeding and stop to private p ssession of big cats. And so w become the world's leading a vocates for that cause. And y was the process for that like u guys may have heard that j st last Thursday, our federal b started in 1998, Because in 1998, I realized that we were ll, which bans the cup h ndling and faces out private p ssession pass the House and t e sounds you hear in the b ckground? Is my husband w rking frantically with our big c t coalition to try and press t is through the Senate before t e end of the year? never going to be able to rescue our way out of this. We had to change the laws. And we worked with a coalition of people then that included Tippi Hedren, who runs a sanctuary in California called Shambala
Sarah Lazarus:like Tippi Hedren, like from the birds Tippi Hedren? Yeah, gosh,
Carole Baskin:Look at you!
Sarah Lazarus:I know my movie facts. Like, that's, that's wild that she owns a cat sanctuary as well. Yeah, her daughter was pretty famous to Melanie Griffith. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Working girl iconic.
Carole Baskin:She had started a bill to phase out I think it was including private possession. But I think she was like trying to stop the captivity of big cats. And it was called the Shambala act. And so I helped her press that through, because we've always been really good at building a huge online presence, once YouTube and Facebook and back then MySpace, all of those kinds of things. We've been really good at engaging people. And so we press very hard for that bill. And then the Humane Society of the United States got involved, and that, you know, they are the 900 pound gorilla when it comes to getting legislation passed. So they were extremely helpful. And the bill changed its form over the years. But essentially, in 2003. All of that work culminated in the bill becoming law and what that bill did because you always have to compromise in order to get something through Congress. With that bill did was it made it illegal to sell a big cat across state lines as a pet, but it left some gaping holes. One was it didn't ban private possession, it didn't stop the cup handling. And it still allowed anybody with a USDA license to continue to breed and sell and buy and trade. And to get a USDA licenses name, address telephone number 35 bucks. So that is not a deterrent. And so ever since 2003, we have been working on legislation to close those gaps. And our current version of the bill stops the cup handling, which causes I think, more than 90% of the abuse and abandonment because they can only use those clubs from about 12 weeks to 16 weeks, at 16 weeks, they can take a finger off of a child, so they become a liability at that point. And that's when they dump them into backyards and basements or they end up in the illegal trade for their parts. And they grow that market for illegal parts, which then puts more pressure on the premium product, which is always going to be the wild tiger. And it's a lot cheaper to shoot a tiger in the wild than it is to raise one for two or three years to full size when it costs $10,000 a year to do that for each cat. So it's causing the extinction of Tiger in the wild to have all these people breeding, pimping out cubs and discarding them. So our bill stops a cup handling and it phases out the private possession, which means everybody would have to register with the government and say, Okay, I've got 10 tigers, I've got two tigers, I've got one tiger, so that we know how many Tigers they've got. And then they can't buy or breed anymore, they can keep once they have, they just can't buy or breed more. And that will cause the problem as the animals die out to cease to exist in this country. None of these cats that people have in their private possession are purebred. So they don't serve any conservation value as far as like, you know, all the claims that they make about saving them in the wild that they're never going to help save them in the wild because they don't know where they came from. And cats have regional instincts that make that impossible to take a cat that might be part Siberian and part Indian and release it in Sumatra, it's just not going to have the instinctual equipment necessary to survive, and it's going to pollute the gene pool there. Wow, that is that is wild. And I remember hearing that like there's more cats here in captivity than there are like in the wild in their native homes, right in the US there's more in captivity than they are where they should be. Isn't that true? It is. And there's less than 4000 Tigers that are left in the wilds of India and Sumatra and the Russian Far East. In the US, nobody even knows how many Tigers there are because there's no government agency that tracks that. And so China has over 7000 tigers in what they call Tiger farms, where they find them just like cattle. But the Chinese don't believe in killing an animal. And so what they will do is they've raised it to full size, and then they put it in this concrete cell and let it starve to death. And that way, it's not them taking the life of the Tiger in their minds. So that's what's driving all of this illegal market for their parts and their derivatives and Tiger bone wine and, you know, for the skills and are the sorry, the skulls and the claws and the teeth. And the skins starving again to death works perfectly fine for them for that. And so when they when the Chinese go to the convention and Trade in Endangered Species societies that meets every four years, I think when they go there and try to legalize this farming of Tigers for their parts, then the US has no standing to ask other countries to oppose that because the Chinese say at least we know where our tigers are. We don't know how many 10s of 1000s of Tigers may be contributing to this same problem in the US because you guys don't even track it. It just it crazy whole worlds where this a lot of bad stuff goes on
Sarah Lazarus:that I don't think a lot of people know about. And that's the sad thing because
Carole Baskin:we worked with the producers of Tiger King for five years because they said that that was what they were trying to show people that was what their show was going to be about was all of these issues that we just talked about. And yet you guys probably watch Tiger King, did you get any of that information? No. Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:That I mean, that's that's the wild thing. I mean, obviously, we want to ask about Tiger King. But I mean, that was like a big concern that to me was sort of just like a little salt thrown at the end of the film. Because I remember hearing about that how there were like so many of these wild Tigers here in the United States and not where they should be in their native home. And I was like, wait, what are we going to talk about that in this documentary? I mean, obviously, you know, it's like very entertaining as somebody who's not the subject of the film, you know, to watch a documentary and like I'm sure the producers will You know, having like a field day when they were hearing all these wild stories and and so how when you were filming it? Did you get the sense that they were gonna focus on the lives of you and Joe exotic? And um, Doc ansal? Like, did you know that's what the film was going to be when they did? Or was it just like completely shocked when you saw it?
Carole Baskin:We were absolutely shocked. And there were times, you know, during the filming, that they would ask me questions about my husband or, you know, the stupid allegations that Joe has made over the years about us. And when I'd say, you know, why are you talking about that, and you're like, Well, you know, all of those people that are breeding and dealing, they say this kind of stuff about you all the time. So we just wanted to make sure that we're being balanced, and that you had the opportunity to tell what really happened, which I did. And I gave them access to all of the public records and the Hillsborough County courthouse and went through, you know, details from my diary about what was happening at the time. And that was not at all, they didn't post any of that rebuttal. They just allowed all of those accusations to stand without any kind of ability for the public to know that that was all wise. And so, you know, I watched it like everybody else did all the way to the end, because I thought, well, surely by the end, they're gonna say, fuck, we found out the hole, this and they present all of the truth. And it's like, they never let it hang out there. And then all of these people saying these terrible things were accurate, because they kept backing each other up about it without any evidence whatsoever. And so I was really, really shocked about that. But I, you know, every time that they would ask me these questions, they would say, Oh, this is just a really small part, you know, this, this is just to, to end what they're saying about it. And when they would ask me to say things about Joe, I never said anything derogatory about him personally. And I could not believe that this was being sold to Netflix as a feud. Because I've never even had a conversation with Joe. I've never spoken a sentence to Joe. And if you go back and watch all the tiger thing, you won't hear me say anything nasty about him. You won't find anything online, nasty about him. Personally, of course, I talk about cub petting and why that's bad. But I always stayed on the issues. And they needed to sell a feud.
Mr. DeSeno:They so now that you know, now that this has been done, and Tiger King is out there in the world, what do you think are the big misconceptions about you and your mission that are floating around because of Tiger King,
Carole Baskin:when we binge watched it? Like I said, My husband and I turned to each other? And we said, well, that was a missed opportunity. This we're thinking, you know, there's all the stuff they could have said and didn't say. And while we're sitting there, my phone starts ringing. And it rang every two minutes, non stop for three months. And it was people screaming obscenities and how much they hated me and how much they wanted to kill me. And they wanted to kill my family, and they wanted to kill the cats of all things. And they're, you
Sarah Lazarus:And what's so you said that you wrote the your know, when I would ask them, why would you want to kill a cat? And they would say, because you keep them in those horrible cages. It's like, they had no idea what this looks like, if that's what they're saying. They're only seeing the little feeding boxes that were shown in Tiger King, not the fact that our cats have, in many cases up to two and a half acres. And so, you know, people obviously came away with a very different idea of who we were, and what sanctuaries are. I deal with a lot of other accredited sanctuaries. And they felt like they had all been painted with the same broad brush of it being a horrible existence for the animals, and it being just like these fraud sciences. But what they missed was the fundamental differences that zoos are in the business of buying and breeding and displaying, and in some cases, allowing people to touch cats and sanctuaries to be accredited, you can't buy or eat or sell or allow for contact with the guests. And so our goal of sanctuaries is to end the abuse so that these cats aren't in captivity at all. And it took a long time, both with our online, you know, all of our social media sites and everything. And just personally with so many people calling me to talk those people off the cliff and say, I think you guys are probably on the same side of this that we are, we don't want big cats in cages. We're trying to end these abuses. And the other thing that people didn't understand was they thought that because these breeders were breeding a bunch of cats that was going to save them from extinction, and they didn't realize that it was actually causing their extinction. And so as we go through the facts with that, and all that stuff that I just talked to you guys about with the Chinese and it's not just the Chinese, it's in Thailand, and Laos and PDR and all of these other countries that are doing the same thing. But once you explain the the truth to people then they were like, Oh, well, maybe we did away with misconception about this and maybe you guys are doing the right thing by trying to get this federal law to pass so that you don't have these calves being born into captivity. And so it's been a long, hard slog. We're seeing a tremendous turn in the way people are proceeding as now. diary entries or things that didn't make it into the tiger King. Can you talk about any of those? And, um, yeah, I would love to know what those were.
Carole Baskin:I kept a diary since I was a child. And back when Don disappeared in 1997 are housekeepers stole my diaries? They were handwritten spiral notebooks back then. And she stole those and what I'm told the person who paid her to do that was Wendall Williams. He was an entire game. And he then gave them to, and McQueen who was in Tiger queen. And she then sent them to hardcopy, and Are you guys familiar with hardcopy TV show like 2020. Or Anyway, she gave them to hardcopy. She gave them to the sheriff's department. She gave them to a woman named Lynn Waddell, who actually, I have this out for another reason that blue widow group, this weekly planning article. And years later, when I talked to Lynn Waddell I said, Is there any chance that you still have copies of my Well actually, I did that right away with her it was in 1998. I think that that came out. And I said, My diaries have been stolen, I'd really love to have copies of the bank if they left you with any copies. So she gave me What began my ability to rebuild my diaries. And as other reporters that were laid that same story that I told you just now of how they got copies of my diaries. I don't know that to be fact. But it's what everybody keeps repeating that went from the housekeeper to windell. To and to whoever got it. So I'm assuming that's how Joe exotic got it. He used to read it on his little nightly YouTube channel. And yeah, reading my very most personal thoughts to anybody who would listen, but I understand he had a, he had an audience of about 12 people. It wasn't too bad. But, you know, when actually before Tiger King came out, there was a podcast by wondery, that Rob Moore had done. And he had kind of gone on that same kind of path that Tiger King led people. And he said, the reason that he did this was he wanted people to feel as fooled by Joe exotic as he was. And so you go into it with you know, he's a country western singer, and he loves animals. And he's just a good guy that's kind of gone off the deep end, because Carol drove him mad. And then at the end of the podcast, Robert says, but here's what I knew to be true, he was lying. And here's the truth about all of this stuff. And he gave the truth on everything that happened. And what most everything I mean, everything that he covered was truthful. And so that's why I expected that that's what was going to happen in Tiger game, because he had just done it. But after he had done it, I realized, you know, there's so many people that have so many questions based on these allegations now, that they're probably hearing for the first time that I should let everybody know what's in those diaries, because Joe would read out like little bits and pieces to make it look one way. But if he had read the entire page, people would have been like, Oh, no, that was something totally different. So I went through my diaries. And I started, I think this was probably in February, recording a day of my diary every day and releasing it onto YouTube. And you can go there, it's at safe the cat Scott. org, it's a easy URL to point to my YouTube playlist for this. And so it just talks about my entire life, everything that has ever happened to me, every embarrassing stupid thing I've ever done in my life, every stupid thought I've ever had in my life, everything is right there. And people can take that all in context, if they really want to know who I am, and make a decision for themselves on what has happened here. But I feel like it's always the best policy to be truthful and transparent. And so is embarrassing as it is an awful lot of that stuff. I've done it anyway. Because I think that that is the best way for people to be informed.
Sarah Lazarus:That is very generous of you to give people your diary on, you know, your and your YouTube because people that don't deserve that either, you know, that's a sacred thing is a diary.
Carole Baskin:And a number of young girls come to me and say, you know, I would never have wanted to have my innermost thoughts revealed in them. But they, they've kind of come to the conclusion that that kind of transparency really is important. And so I hope that that is the takeaway that people have that they live the kind of life that you would be willing to share every single thought or thing you ever did.
Sarah Lazarus:I mean, and I know we we've talked me and Vinny talked about how like when we watch Tiger King, I mean, we didn't know perceived to be a good person on the on that at all I feel like that's kind of sort of like a sexist thing to do also is when you watch something you like, immediately go when like the woman is targeted in any situation, either way, but like, I mean, Vinnie's talked about him and like him in the the men and like tricking them into.
Mr. DeSeno:Yes, absolutely. I think that Yeah, I don't know this whole the whole hype about Joe exotic getting pardoned I don't think he deserves a pardon. Not to not to harp on Joe exotic This is Carol Baskins interview. I think that I think that if you two were separated figures that there would be a lot more support for for you Carol baskin. And I think that I think that you're right, and that they really showed Joe just targeting you for most of that documentary. And that's probably where most of the vitriol comes from. But we, you know, we, aside from reading your diary, we do want to know even more about you. And we wanted to ask you just some questions about things you've been doing lately, such as, if you weren't a big cat sanctuary owner, what other career would you have chosen?
Carole Baskin:Well, like I said, my my main mission actually is still to end the euthanasia of healthy cats and kittens. And when I started the sanctuary, I thought, naively, how hard could it be right? It's like every dumb thing I ever do starts with how are you today? And I thought for sure, I could have fixed this big cat problem by now. And going back to what I really want to do is to protect domestic cats. And so I'm getting close. Now. I mean, if you look at all of the people who were in Tiger King, now you've got Tim Stark who has lost his license and can no longer have these cats. Jeff Lowe, who has lost his license and can no longer separate the cats duck Antal who has now been indicted and his daughters have been indicted on wildlife trafficking charges. And so one by one these dominoes are falling. In fact, there's two places here locally that have recently gone out of business. And they were places that were abusing cubs. And so it's been really nice to see that happen. And it tells me that I'm getting close to being able to do what my heart really wants to do, which is protect those domestic cats and kittens from being filled. Awesome.
Sarah Lazarus:So do you have any favorite cats at your sanctuary?
Carole Baskin:You know, for like, 27 years, I could honestly say I didn't have a favorite cat. It's like they're all your children, and you've loved them all for very different reasons. But about a year or two ago, maybe longer. This Tiger named Aria came into my life. And that, yeah, has just captured my heart. I can't explain how how she managed to reach me at a level that no other cat ever had. And I've had some really good relationships with cats. And, man, I mean, that cat is just, she's a she's been a life changer.
Sarah Lazarus:Wow. Okay, so moving on to your post to post Tiger King life. You were on this show called Dancing with the Stars. We want to know how that came about. And what was that like
Carole Baskin:when Tiger King came out there were over 200 media outlets that said, we want to tell your side of the story. And I was like, then go check out my diary, because that's there. And I just did not want to trust people in the media after a betrayed so badly, of course. But there were two on the list that my daughter said you've got to do is you got to do Jimmy Fallon because I love that guy. And you've got to be dancing with the stars, because I love that show. And I did the Jimmy Fallon thing, and it turned out to be a prank. And
Sarah Lazarus:oh, yes. I'm glad you're laughing about that. It was
Carole Baskin:it was I was so I was so bamboozled by these guys from UK that had me believing I was on the Jimmy Fallon show and talking to Jimmy Fallon when I wasn't. But the good news was they get like 7 million views. And they let me talk about the issues the whole time. So it was like, that's all good. So Bravo for them. And so you can imagine when dancing with stars came back at me again, I was like, how could it be this woman's name is cat. Her lesson was cats, and she's reaching out to me, and she wants me to be on Dancing with the Stars. She's gotta be punking me, this can't be real. And so we had a number of conversations back and forth. And I didn't I've never seen the show. So I didn't know how that worked. But I was thinking, you know, whenever you're trying to push a bill through Congress, they always want to know who are your celebrities that are supporting this. And it's like, for crying out loud. Celebrities don't understand conservation issues for the most part, but it's important to them to get their pictures made with a good celebrity. So I thought if I get to be on Dancing with the Stars, maybe they'll pair me up with a star that I can then get to go with me to Congress and we can get their selfies with a star so that they'll pass this bill. And then I found out that they meant that I was the star. And I thought that was hilarious. That is not my concept of who I am and all of this world. But then I found out that I actually had to learn to dance. And my mother always said, you can do anything that you set your mind to god bless her. She was wrong. I could not be taught. That's why I didn't last more than three shows because there was just no, but
Sarah Lazarus:you you played up the bit you you know, it was we loved it. It was camp, it was great. It was amazing.
Carole Baskin:Well, thank you.
Sarah Lazarus:That's how you got to do it. You know, you play into the bit. And you know what it right to the bank you laugh right to the bank, you know what I mean? Like,
Vinny:you are a star and you proved that
Carole Baskin:I want to give a shout out to the people in wardrobe because they really made the show for me. And they came to me and they were all like, we don't want to impose or ask you to do anything that make you uncomfortable, but want to know how you feel about different outfits. And I was like, as long as there's no firm feathers or leathers. You can guys can do whatever you want. I'll wear whatever you put on me and they went wild. They said I was the most fun they ever dressed because they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.
Sarah Lazarus:Speaking of leathers and feathers, we have to know we love your wedding photos. And we want to know we love it. We're we're big fans we have to know the story.
Carole Baskin:thank you. wedding photos have certainly become famous now. And it's my husband's great sense of humor that that happened. He was he was over 50 years old when I met him and had been a bachelor. And everybody had said there was no way he was ever going to get married. And so nobody could believe that he was going to get married. And my husband is one of those people like everybody who meets him who loves him from the get go, they just adore him. And like he said a few of these interviews for me because I couldn't be there. And they're like, he was so much more fun than you. I just had one of those Loose Women, they really bring me back in here. At any rate, he felt like if we were to have a wedding, you know, big wedding, he's got friends, like every person he's ever met that has been a friend of his is still a friend of his and it would have been like hundreds, if not 1000s of people. And so we decided to just elope on the beach. The only people we brought was the notary, his girlfriend wanted to tag along. And then my daughter and her boyfriend at the time came because we had to have witnesses. And then howie and I. And so the day of the wedding, I got dressed as you saw in the white dress and the flowers on my head. And we all went down to the beach, except for Hawaii. And how he said, You know, this is this is a really big move for me. And I want you guys to go on down to the beach. And I'll choose whether or not I'm going to actually show up for this. And you'll know sooner or later. So we all went down to the beach and I'm just, you know, kind of standing there or looking down toward where he's coming from. And the notary, his girlfriend says is that a caveman coming down the beach? And she said, is that how we come down the beach? I was like, No, how he doesn't have black bushy hair like that. And then we can start to see like this hikers toga. And he passes some people on the beach because you know, the day before it was Halloween, and so they're thinking there's some drunk still out there on the beach. And it's Halloween here The next day, because it was November 1 was our wedding day. And he actually showed up wearing that outfit. And he thought that it would just be hilarious to have this scene of him getting married and being the tough guy, the guy carrying the girl over his shoulder, you know, the caveman type out attitude and then him being strapped on a leash and being tamed by that woman. And so that was where those pictures came from. And it turned out to be that was my actual wedding. So for years women were like I cannot believe you let him come to a wedding like that and it's like you can do whatever he wants.
Vinny:I love that it's a great photo an even better story
Carole Baskin:there's some really cute little Youtooz dolls now that are our wedding images of us dressed like that that are just hilarious.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, other people doing it is that we know it.
Carole Baskin:There's this some it's like Bobble. Well we have bobbleheads but there's also this company called Youtooz. And it's like little character pictures of people and so it's how we and I are about this big they're my office but but a big and it's like little plastic dolls of me and my wedding gear and his Tiger thing and she's got a little leash on him and so I figured people are going to get married on their wedding cakes all over the place. That's only gonna be very
Sarah Lazarus:Yes.
Vinny:What I want one. Okay, so
Sarah Lazarus:we're gonna move on to our game section. We have a little game section where we do some fun fun games, marry fuck kills section and these are you know abstract. We have abstract Mary folktales. But they're related to you. Do you know how to play this game? Oh my gosh, I
Carole Baskin:don't even understand the title.
Vinny:We are going to give you three options. Okay. And you have to pick one of them to marry one of them to fuck and one of them to kill.
Carole Baskin:Yeah, I'm not gonna play this game.
Sarah Lazarus:They are they're like, very abstract. They're like, can we do? Maybe Okay, Mary,
Vinny:Mary kiss kill. We can clean it up a little bit.
Carole Baskin:Well, I wouldn't kill anybody either. And I wouldn't talk about that in a comical way given the fact that people have said such horrible thing, right?
Mr. DeSeno:It is topical. That's true.
Sarah Lazarus:Let's wait what's another way we can frame this Mary kiss shoe? Like they have their shoot away?
Mr. DeSeno:Okay, marry you. Okay, okay. That's okay. Perfect. Okay, marry kiss shoe. Your options are Mufasa from The Lion King. Okay, Aslan from Narnia. Oh. And the tiger from Life of Pi.
Carole Baskin:And what was the second one?
Mr. DeSeno:Aslan from Narnia.
Carole Baskin:I would wanna kiss all three of those? Yeah,
Sarah Lazarus:I mean, yeah. Mufasa he's got he's got strakes he can he can? He'll do it. He'll, you know, be there for you. Okay, this one next one. Publix fried chicken. Tony the Tiger if he was sponsored by Cheerios instead, and an unlimited supply of maxi dresses.
Carole Baskin:Oh, gosh. Um, I would marry Tony the Tiger. I would shoo the maxi dresses and I would kiss the what was the other one? A Publix fried chicken. Oh no, I would shoot the Publix fried chicken and I'd kiss the dresses
Sarah Lazarus:are you you love maxi dresses. Right? You were sporting tons of them. Gorgeous in Tiger King, we love them. So that's that's got to be it. You know? Excellent.
Mr. DeSeno:We have a never ending supply of flower crowns. cheetah print condoms. And getting abducted by aliens. Well, I
Carole Baskin:would marry the flower crowns. And I probably kiss the aliens because I would be so interested about more about them. And I don't need condoms at my age. Okay, Florida. Want spots on those things either that would be gross.
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah, you'd be like what? There's something wrong with you. This is going on here.
Vinny:See a doctor for that.
Sarah Lazarus:But you know what? You could totally sell that you could totally sell Tiger Queen condoms. very marketable. very marketable. Okay, this last one. Florida orange juice, the New Jersey orange juice or orange jews.
Carole Baskin:I don't know what orange Jews are.
Sarah Lazarus:Jews that are or I'm a Jew. So I guess I'm allowed to say this orange jews.
Carole Baskin:Well, I married a Jew. So I'll go for that one. I'll kiss the orange juice from Florida and I don't know what New Jersey orange juice is. So
Mr. DeSeno:no one knows what orange juice from New Jersey is. Our last game is called Tiger Bachelorette. So what we've done is we've each picked three Tigers from your website. And we've kind of riffed on their bios a little bit given them kind of Bachelorette esque BIOS. So we're gonna give you three tigers, we're going to give you their Bachelorette descriptions and you're going to pick which one will be your spouse I guess which one wins? Okay, without further ado, option number one we've got Duchess the Tigris Duchess is an old soul with a passion for pumpkin pie spice and interior decorating. Her ideal companion is a free spirit who smells just like raw bison on the weekends you can catch her distressing through her busy corporate job on the great log pile. Option number two we have Sapphire the white tigress Watch out for this firecracker. Sapphire is a sprightly Instagram model with an attitude she may or may not have worn out for her arrest for stocking Jasmine the Tigris Sapphire enjoys diamonds, expensive dinners and torturing squirrels. Finally we have Manny the Jaguar. Many the Jaguar is a Taurus and that pretty much sums him up man He says his ideal companion is someone who will give him some damn peace and quiet man. He can often be found in his den watching Biggest Loser and drooling
Carole Baskin:Well, I'd have to choose Manny because I just love being quiet with the cat so that would that would suit us both. Although I was I was leaning toward Duchess because people tell me I smell like
Sarah Lazarus:our next Bachelorette contestants are Amanda. Amanda is a Virgo. She's shy except for when she's had a few drinks. Her favorite films are the Disney Channel Original Movie. Mom's got a date with a vampire and the five people you meet in heaven. On a Saturday, you can find Amanda striding down her own private mulch runway. Contestant number two, James James is a smart kitty. He attended Harvard for marketing with a concentration in Frosted Flakes cereal. He's a Gemini with a taste for life and edible fear from his spray. Some people say he's a fuck boy, but he says he that he's just got too much love to give his favorite movies are Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas last one, Max. Max is Max the tiger is a retired clown. Initially he was a juggalo and after attending too many clown raves, he decided to take life more seriously. While he supports walking the Joaquin Phoenix version of the Joker. He does not support the new Joker film. His favorite quote is you miss 100% of the shots. You don't take Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott.
Carole Baskin:Well, I gotta say max definitely shares my philosophy that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take so it's it's gonna have to be max even though James clearly has some great taste in films.
Sarah Lazarus:Yes, incredible. Well, thank you so much for joining us Carol. This is truly an honor and we actually have a quote we leave all of our guests with just a random quote it's just a quote it's nothing special around nothing you'll take away in life just
Vinny:something mini okay our ending quote for you is their great Tony the Tiger
Carole Baskin:so perfect.
Vinny:Follow us on Twitter at wish you were weird one that is the letter U not the word you and if you come across that pitch as Twitter that has wish you were weird report that
Sarah Lazarus:this episode of wish you were weird was sponsored by nobody. Please sponsor us. Thank