Tiger King star Carole Baskin says ‘caged’ Britney Spears ‘should be in the wild’ as Free Britney movement hits fever pitch
Carole Baskin (L) came out swinging for a campaign aiming to end Britney Spears’ conservatorship. (Screen capture via Cameo/Lester Cohen/BBMA2016/Getty)
Tiger King star Carole Baskin threw her support to the #FreeBritney movement, saying that Britney Spears “should be in the wild” and compared the singer to a “caged tiger”.
British Britney fan Daniel John lodged a request for the 59-year-old on Cameo – a service that allows fans to buy short personalised videos from celebrities – and she reportedly went off-script as she came out swinging for the campaign to end Spears’ yearslong conservatorship.
In the video uploaded 23 July, Baskin emphatically said: “Free Britney.”
Had a little something done up for #FreeBritney from Carole Baskin herself ! pic.twitter.com/KIbD4GVTem
— d4n (@dannjohn) July 23, 2020
Carole Baskin: ‘Stay cool, cats. Free Britney.’
“I just want to shout out to Britney Spears who is being treated like a caged tiger at the moment in a legal conservatorship,” Baskin said in the Cameo clip.
“It’s not right, and I know something about conservatorships, oh my gosh.
“Once those things are in place it’s just nothing but a free-for-all for all of these attorneys to just gobble up as much of the money as they can possibly get their greedy little grubby paws on.
“So, free Britney.”
She added: “She should be in the wild and she should really be wary of others, especially those closest to her.
“Stay cool, cats. Free Britney.”
John, based in London, England, told Insider that Baskin veered off the memo he sent the animal rights activist. “I wouldn’t say I fed her any lines, I just wrote ‘Could you do a video about Free Britney, you know she’s under a conservatorship, she should be in the wild’,” John said.
“I kind of gave her the inspiration behind some of her lines. But when she was going off on the conservatorship, that was completely her.
“The line at the end about ‘Be wary of others, the ones close to you,’ that’s one I fed her, because that’s from a Britney song called ‘Rebellion’.
“That’s a little side wink to the fans, ’cause they know that song.”
It’s certainly not the first time the Big Cats Rescue head has seen one of her Cameo videos go viral. Only recently – in peak 2020 fashion – she was duped by a prankster into paying a heartfelt tribute to paedophiles Rolf Harris and Jimmy Saville.
Why is Britney Spears in a conservatorship?
Since 2008, Spears has been entangled in a conservatorship following her public breakdown – serving as a flashpoint for her loved ones to intervene and have her father Jamie and be in control of the musician’s finances.
Over the years, the #FreeBritney movement has often raised pointed concerns over the pop star’s well-being. The movement intensified last year when Spears’ Las Vegas residency was put on indefinite hold, causing many to object to the continued restrictions on her life.
Supporters of the #FreeBritney movement flew to Los Angeles from across the US to protest. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
The movement has once again been sparked in recent weeks as Spears moved to bring the order to an end. Campaigners have signed petitions calling for the singer to have her own legal counsel and others crowbarred into digital hearings or packed the streets outside courts.
But the campaign was dealt a devastating blow by Jamie who, during a hearing that Spears failed to attend, sought to extinguish the movement by asking the judge to make all proceedings around her conservatorship strictly private.
The judge approved the move, all the while protesters jammed the Los Angeles County Court, buttressing signs and placards calling for the singer’s conservatorship to be ended or to “Jail Jamie”.
