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Ever since Tiger King became a cultural phenomenon, aided in part by the timing of lockdowns around the world, Carole Baskin has been the focus of intense media attention.

She’s also the focus of a lawsuit from her ‘missing’ ex-husband’s family, who are offering a sizeable reward for any information that could help solve the mystery of Don Lewis’ disappearance.

Baskin has kept a pretty low profile over the past few months, but if you dangle the right carrot, you can still get her to sing you a happy birthday song.

Over on Cameo, for $299 (around R5 150), Baskin and current husband Howard will record a song of your choosing:

If your name’s Charlotte, and you would like Carole and Howard to sing you happy birthday in the style of 50 Cent’s ‘In Da Club’, you just saved yourself a cool five grand:

Carole’s prices are far, far cheaper than Snoop Dogg’s, or Caitlyn Jenner’s, or Charlie Sheen’s, for example.

She spoke with the Washington Post about what led to her making a Cameo profile:

In search of income and simply something to do, Baskin downloaded Cameo, which like “Tiger King,” has received a pandemic-assisted boost in popularity.

About a month later, people were using the app to pay her $299 to make 30-second happy birthday videos…

“It’s a way to communicate who Carole really is,” said her husband, Howard Baskin. “You know, this very kind, fun sort of person that may correct some other impressions.”

I reckon it’s going to take more than an upbeat birthday song to get people to stop thinking she fed her husband to her big cats, but hey, 10 points for trying.

It hasn’t all gone to plan thus far:

In mid-July, Australian comedian Tom Armstrong hired her to wish a happy birthday to Rolf Harris and to mention Jimmy Savile. Unbeknown to her, Harris and Savile are notorious serial sexual predators.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about a lot of times. A lot of it seems to be slang or some kind of a personal joke, an inside joke they have with a member of a family or their friends,” Baskin said. “I live under a rock. If there’s not a cat involved in it, I don’t know anything about it.”

That does sound like a reasonably enjoyable existence, actually.

Closer to home, South Africans may have heard of a somewhat similar app called TIMON, where gurus and celebrities in various fields are available for on-demand voice and text chats, at rates set by the gurus themselves.

Gurus currently onboard include Jack Parow, Jeannie D, John Smit, Bob Skinstad, Tracy McGregor, Ryan O’Connor, Venetia Archer, Rob Fleck, Simon Dingle, Chris van Zyl, Ard Matthews, and more.

Yes, Jack Parow will chirp your mate if you pay his fee.

You can find a list of TIMON gurus here.

[source:washpost]