Tiger King 2: Carole Baskin has “no claim” to sue for filming – Netflix

Netflix said Carole Baskin has “no claim” to sue the company for using footage of her in Tiger King 2.

Baskin and her husband Howard filed a lawsuit against Netflix last week for breach of contract after appearing in the show’s trailer.

Their lawsuit said they only signed the appearance release forms for the first season of the Netflix docu series.

Netflix now claims to have signed releases in 2019 that “explicitly allow” use of the footage in subsequent projects.

The streamer and Royal Goode Productions, also included in the Baskins’ legal request, have asked for it to be denied.

Their case claims that Carole Baskin became a “pop culture phenomenon” because of Tiger King, adding that she had “no claims” and her “breach of contract claim is simply a red herring, devoid of any merit.” “.

Tiger King followed the rivalry between eccentric Oklahoma zoo owner Joe Exotic and animal rights activist Baskin.

The show became a cultural phenomenon in March 2020, fueled in part by the blockades imposed by the pandemic.

Carole Baskin, owner and CEO of Big Cat Rescue in Florida, said she was unhappy with how it was presented and described the series as “a reality show on fire.”

The Baskins want Royal Goode Productions and Netflix to drop all filming of Tiger King 2 and are looking to take the case to a jury.

The lawsuit claims: “Using footage from the film Baskins and Big Cat Rescue secured by Royal Goode Productions under Appearance Releases in” sizzle reels “and promotional trailers for the sequel titled Tiger King 2, the defendants violate the terms of the Appearance Releases.”

The lawsuit also claims that the first series gave a false impression of Big Cat Rescue’s work and unfairly accused the Baskins of animal abuse.

“The Tiger King 1 series has mistakenly attempted to suggest that Big Cat Rescue abused his animals by keeping them in very small cages without making it clear that the animals actually reside in large enclosures,” the legal documents say.

“Perhaps more pernicious is the general implication in Tiger King 1 that Carole Baskin was involved in the disappearance of her first husband in 1997,” the papers say.

Carole Baskin has repeatedly denied having anything to do with the disappearance of her first husband Don Lewis.

Netflix and Royal Goode Productions have called for the case to be denied as it “hits the heart of the First Amendment” of the United States Constitution that protects free speech.

An evidentiary hearing in the case is “useless” due to the “insurmountable constitutional obstacle,” the streamer said.

Last week a Florida judge had already denied a motion for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked filming of the Baskins in Tiger King’s second season.

The judge ruled that the Baskins “are not entitled to the extraordinary remedy of a temporary restraining order, which would be issued before the defendants have had an adequate opportunity to respond.”

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, And Madness told the story of Baskin’s nemesis, flamboyant big cat enthusiast Joe Exotic.

Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was the owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, which he has now sold.

In 2018, Exotic was arrested and charged with hiring two men to kill Baskin.

The following year he was found guilty of multiple federal animal abuse charges and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.

An appeals court has since ruled that Exotic should receive a shorter sentence after saying he was diagnosed with “aggressive” prostate cancer.

Tiger King season 2 will be streamed on Netflix from November 17th.

Follow us on Facebook or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have an email with a suggestion for a story entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.