There’s no new information on ‘Tiger King’ star Carole Baskin’s husband. So why are we talking about him again?
News about Carole Baskin's former husband, Don Lewis, being "alive and well" are circulating anew. But police officials and an attorney say Lewis is still missing and legally dead.
Stories and tweets about Tiger King star Carole Baskin’s former husband, Don Lewis, being “alive and well” are circulating again. But police officials, family members of Lewis, and an attorney all say Lewis remains missing. He was legally declared dead in 2002.
So, if nothing’s changed, why are we suddenly talking about it again? Here’s what we know.
Rumors about Don Lewis being alive resurfaced this week
It started with a tweet.
On Monday, a 2021 interview with Carole Baskin where she claims Lewis is alive — and living his best life in Costa Rica — was resurfaced on Twitter and presented as the current situation. In the 2021 interview they referenced, conducted by ITV, Baskin claimed Homeland Security told her that Lewis was alive. Baskin published a redacted screenshot of a letter — which has not been authenticated — on her Big Cats Rescue website, which says, “Don Lewis is currently alive and well in Costa Rica.” Baskin made similar claims in season 2 of the wildly popular 2020 Netflix docuseries, Tiger King.
Tiger King centered around a feud between Big Cat keepers Baskin and Joseph Maldonado-Passage — better known as Joe Exotic. Lewis’ 1997 disappearance is a focus in Tiger King’s two seasons. Joe Exotic repeatedly accused Baskin of being involved in Lewis’ death and “feeding him to her tigers.” The feud sparked costumes, a movie, a Dancing With the Stars appearance for Baskin, merch sales, and a viral TikTok trend. Years later, the drama still commands attention from culture vultures.
“How did I miss that Carole Baskin’s husband that went missing and claimed to be fed to the tigers was actually found alive?” the tweet said. It was viewed more than 22,000 times. By the next day, an even-more-viral tweet — with nearly 4 million views — stating the same information took off.
The only problem? No new information about Lewis has actually come out and critics say Baskin’s 2021 claims he’s alive remains unverified.
Still, news articles and tabloids pounced on the gossip with inaccurate headlines like “It turns out Carole Baskin’s ‘dead’ husband has been found alive and well” and “Carole Baskin: ‘Dead’ husband found alive but no one noticed.”
Police, attorney, and family members say the news of Lewis being alive is false
In light of the resurfaced rumors, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office — out of Tampa, Fla., where Lewis lived and Baskin is based — told news outlets that Lewis is “still missing.” They added that Baskin’s claims that Homeland Security also notified the sheriff’s office that Lewis was alive “has not happened.”
In light of the new wave of rumors, TMZ reported that his family has been “re-traumatized,” receiving “calls from strangers and even family members congratulating them on finding their father ... which brings back bad memories.”
“While we would certainly welcome the good news of our Dad being found alive, it’s just simply not true,” Lewis’ daughters told reportedly told TMZ. The family’s spokesperson, Jack Smith, said the daughters “firmly believe” Lewis is dead.
On Instagram, John Phillips, the attorney for Maldonado-Passage, refuted the claims that Lewis was alive.
“During the filming of Tiger King, detailed efforts were made to find Don Lewis. They all failed. He is not alive,” Phillips said. “The 2021 report by Carole Baskin was [a] further unsupported allegation. It’s being republished as if it has veracity. It doesn’t.”
Phillips said news articles taking Baskin’s claims as gospel are “false and designed to bring more attention” to her.
The moral of the story? Don’t believe everything you read on Twitter.