Tiger King’s Carole Baskin tricked into recording ‘shout-out’ to Rolf Harris and Jimmy Savile

Bad-taste prank was orchestrated by Australian comedian Tom Armstrong

Carole Baskin, star of the hit Netflix True Crime series Tiger King, has fallen victim to a bad-taste prank by Australian comedian Tom Armstrong.

The big-cat rights activist was filmed delivering a message to convicted paedophile Rolf Harris, unaware of the disgraced singer-songwriter’s past.

Baskin offers personalised video messages for a fee via the popular celebrity messaging service Cameo.

In the clip, Baskin says: “Hey, all you cool cats and kittens. It’s Carole Baskin, at Big Cat Rescue. Hi Rolf Harris. All your kids wanted to get together and tell you that you have really touched them, and that they love all that you have done for them.”

“I hear there’s a lot of great stories about you and your best friend, Jimmy Savile – can’t wait to hear those. Happy birthday Rolf!”

Savile and Harris were both investigated for sex crimes by the Metropolitan Police as part of Operation Yewtree.

Armstrong is known for his pranks on the popular social media site TikTok. Last week, the comedian fooled 7th Heaven star Beverley Mitchell into giving a “shout out” to Ivan Milat, one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers.

Sharing the video of Baskin on Twitter, Armstrong wrote: “If this doesn’t break the internet I give up.”

The fact that Baskin agreed to read the message at all – coupled with her mispronunciation of Jimmy Savile’s name – strongly suggested that Baskin was unaware of the scandals surrounding either man.

She confirmed to The Mirror that this was the case. “Of course, I have never heard of Rolf Harris, and would not have done the Cameo had I known,” she said.

“The signature line in my email reads, ‘I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made’ - Franklin D. Roosevelt and I think that tells you all you need to know about the kind of people who abuse me in their efforts to make others hate me.”