Carole Baskin says she was the victim of "mob mentality".
Carole Baskin
The 59-year-old animal rights activist shot to fame on Netflix's 'Tiger King' documentary last year but quickly became the target of abuse and Carole believes both the COVID-19 pandemic and the "uprising of mob mentality" are both to blame.
She told Netflix.co.uk: "In the past year, I’ve seen this mob mentality take over in every aspect, everywhere we’re seeing this really huge uprising of mob mentality.
"I don’t know what’s causing that other than the fact that we’re all sharing in the same pandemic and we’re all afraid. I believe it’s causing people to do and say certain things, and to join into certain groups or cliques. I feel that actually had a big part of why I got so much hate from people that don’t know anything about me."
Carole's arch-nemesis, exotic zoo owner Joe Exotic - who also featured in 'Tiger King' - has been jailed for attempting to hire a hitman to murder her but Carole received abuse over an episode of the show which looked at the mysterious disappearance of her second husband Don Lewis.
She said: ""If people had been paying attention, they would have noticed that the sheriff’s office said I’ve never even been a person of interest in the disappearance of my husband. Yet not the takeaway that people came away with after watching the show. In 'Tiger King', all of those bad guys and people who were abusing animals kept saying 'Everything that happens is Carol Baskin’s fault'."