Calls for social distancing due to the spread of the coronavirus means that people are getting creative with how they spend their free time. One of the stars of Netflix’s documentary series Tiger King is using it to audition for Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber’s music video.
Bieber and Grande’s new song “Stuck With U” drops on Thursday night, and with it, a music video featuring fans who are social distancing at home and submitted videos to be a part of the collaboration. Animal activist and Tiger King star Carole Baskin is one such fan. She and her husband Howard, whom she married in 2004 following the controversial disappearance of her previous husband Don Lewis two years earlier, decided to submit a video for consideration. In the video posted to Bieber’s Instagram, she and Howard dance with their house cat Pearlie, while dressed in Baskin’s beloved tiger aesthetic.
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Unfortunately for the Tiger Queen, Baskin apparently won’t be in the final cut of the video, according to TMZ. Of the video, Grande reportedly told TMZ that she did not “allow or approve this clip to be in the actual video” but that “nonetheless, it exists and that's...unique.”
Baskin’s mortal enemy, private zookeeper and general eccentric Joe Exotic, made a slew of country music videos about his passion for tigers. Baskin’s would-be appearance in Bieber and Grande’s video could have been her own way of honoring her beloved big cats. While that’s not in the cards for Baskin, actress Kristin Chenoweth made a music video from Baskin’s perspective that should serve as a decent consolation prize.
Baskin is a particularly fascinating character for many Tiger King fans, due, in part, to the unfounded accusations made by Exotic and others claiming she had something to do with Lewis’ disappearance. Baskin vehemently denies such allegations and told TMZ that she hopes Bieber posting her video clip “doesn't attract too many of the haters who have been bashing us since being misled by Tiger King.”
Recently, Baskin was tricked by YouTubers claiming to be producers for the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. The media shy Baskin did the interview, believing it was Fallon who was interviewing her.
Refinery29 reached out to Grande and Bieber for comment.