For her first-ever media appearance following the massive success of Netflix's Tiger King, Carole Baskin was pranked by a YouTube duo into thinking she was being interviewed by The Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon.
Once Baskin agreed to the interview, content creators Josh Pieters and Archie Manners set up an elaborate ruse to get the cool cat queen to think she was really speaking to the talk show host — rigging up an iPad with cat-related Fallon audio clips to get her talking.
The interview went live on Sunday (May 3) and now the jig is up, but Baskin isn't mad at all — she's just happy she got to speak at length about her tiger sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue, and her well-documented cat advocacy.
"I was suspicious as we were doing it because the questions appeared taped. But had no idea it would turn out to be such a fun prank," Baskin said in a statement to CNN. "It gave us a very welcome good laugh. I appreciate their cleverness and that they created their video in a way that I don't feel was in any way mean spirited."
Baskin initially declined the request for an interview because, not shockingly, she doesn't like the way she was portrayed in the Joe Exotic-focused special. She also refused to appear in the Tiger King follow-up episode. The docuseries famously suggested that Baskin might be responsible for the murder of her missing husband, Don Lewis, with many key players suggesting that she fed him to her cats.
Watch the fake interview below.
Once Baskin agreed to the interview, content creators Josh Pieters and Archie Manners set up an elaborate ruse to get the cool cat queen to think she was really speaking to the talk show host — rigging up an iPad with cat-related Fallon audio clips to get her talking.
The interview went live on Sunday (May 3) and now the jig is up, but Baskin isn't mad at all — she's just happy she got to speak at length about her tiger sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue, and her well-documented cat advocacy.
"I was suspicious as we were doing it because the questions appeared taped. But had no idea it would turn out to be such a fun prank," Baskin said in a statement to CNN. "It gave us a very welcome good laugh. I appreciate their cleverness and that they created their video in a way that I don't feel was in any way mean spirited."
Baskin initially declined the request for an interview because, not shockingly, she doesn't like the way she was portrayed in the Joe Exotic-focused special. She also refused to appear in the Tiger King follow-up episode. The docuseries famously suggested that Baskin might be responsible for the murder of her missing husband, Don Lewis, with many key players suggesting that she fed him to her cats.
Watch the fake interview below.
