Carole Baskin urges Kate McKinnon to "reach out to discover who I am" ahead of actresses's role as Tiger King star
The big cat enthusiast and star of Tiger King has asked Kate McKinnon to refrain from using real cats in the show and to get in touch before filming.
Tiger King star Carole Baskin has asked SNL's Kate McKinnon to get in touch before portraying her in NBC's scripted series about the events of the Netflix hit.
The actress, who appeared in the Ghostbuster's reboot and Bombshell, is set to play Baskin in a limited series, based on Netflix's docuseries Tiger King, for NBC streaming site Peacock.
In light of the official news, Big Cat Rescue boss Baskin sent a statement via RadioTimes.com, asking the show to use CGI cats rather than "forcing real big cats to suffer just to entertain the audience".
"I implore Kate McKinnon to NOT use real big cats and cubs in the making of her series," she wrote. "The Wondery podcast, which is the basis for her series, explores the rampant breeding, abuse and exploitation of big cats by breeder and exhibitor Joe Exotic. It would be cruel to use real big cats in a television series about cruelty to big cats."
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She added that she hopes McKinnon will urge the public to support the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and that the actress gets to know her before acting in the series.
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"On a personal level, I would hope that if she's going to portray me that she reach[es] out to discover who I am," she said. "I've been posting my diary at SaveTheCats.org so if she doesn't want to call, that's a great place to start."
Baskin has posted 188 public videos on the website of her reading entries from her diary.
Back in March, reports of Kate McKinnon portraying Carole Baskin in a scripted series began to hit the mainstream media, with Universal Content Productions rumoured to be developing the show.
McKinnon's isn't the only Tiger King drama adaptation in the works however, as Nicolas Cage will reportedly be playing Joe Exotic in a separate drama based on Texas Monthly's article – Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild.
Tiger King premiered on Netflix in April, with a second series on the way, according to Exotic's husband Dillon Passage.
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