Oh, what’s this? Just a video of Tiger King’s Carole Baskin serenading a toy tiger with a Christmas carol
Carole Baskin sings “Deck the Halls” with six other Carols. (YouTube/ Deezer)
Carole Baskin is the star of “A Christmas Carol with Carols”, a charity campaign featuring seven celebrity Carols… singing a carol.
Alongside Baskin, the video also features Carol Smilie, Carol Thatcher, Carol Wright, Carol Decker, Carolyn Pickles and Carol from The Brittas Empire (Harriet Thorpe), performing a star-studded and socially distanced rendition of “Deck the Halls”.
Baskin kicked off the video by saying: “Hey all you cool cats and kittens, it’s Carole Baskin.”
Wearing a Santa hat against a tiger print backdrop and clutching a huge toy tiger, she added: “We are wishing you a happy holiday season.”
The carol that follows is a rollercoaster ride, ranging from charmingly off-key in Baskin’s case, to Thatcher, daughter of prime minister Margaret Thatcher, giving up on singing altogether and simply reciting in a monotone voice: “Fa la la la la, la la la la.”
The video was organised by music streaming service Deezer to raise money for the homelessness charity Crisis, and it has asked three of the Carols to create a festive playlist on the platform.
Baskin’s “Cool Cats’ Christmas” playlist includes queer hits like “Step into Christmas” by Elton John and “Last Christmas” by Wham!, alongside the lesser-known “It’s Hard to Be a Cat at Christmas” by Cats Across America.
Deezer’s UK and Ireland music editor Adam Read said in a statement: “Christmas carolling is going to be harder this year with social distancing and tiering.
“So we wanted to find a way to keep people safe, but inject some heavy duty Christmas spirit with this one-of-a-kind performance.
“We’re thankful to all the Carols helping us raise money for Crisis and want to encourage everyone to watch the video, listen to Carols’ playlists and donate for a very worthy cause.
“So tag your favourite Carol and let them know that ‘Tis The Season To Be Carol!'”
Carole Baskin revealed that she has always considered herself bisexual in an exclusive interview with PinkNews this year.
“I was always very male-oriented in the things I did,” she said. “I never had any mothering instincts or anything, you know, I never played with dolls. And so I always thought that there was something off there, that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“But it was during the ’80s that I discovered that through dealing with the LGBT+ community that I [realised] I had just as equal feelings for women as I did for men.”
Baskin added: “I have always considered myself to be bisexual. Even though I’ve never had a wife, I could just as easily have a wife as a husband.”
