How did a Lexington television anchor end up in an episode of ‘Tiger King 2?’
The new season of “Tiger King” premiered Wednesday, and it features an unexpected cameo by one of Lexington’s own: longtime LEX 18 news anchor Dia Davidson.
Davidson can be seen and heard briefly during the second episode, which is titled “The Carole Diaries.”
Davidson shared a photo on Facebook of a television screen that showed her appearance. She’s behind the news desk, delivering a news story on LEX 18 that featured Don Lewis, the husband of Carole Baskin who has been missing since 1997.
The news story appears to be about Lewis’ family erecting billboards in the Tampa area offering a reward and seeking information about his disappearance. Yahoo News reported that the second season of Tiger King takes another look at what might have become of Lewis, a millionaire who operated a big cat rescue with Baskin.
“So, it appears I made a cameo appearance in the Netflix Series - Tiger King 2 Episode 2 “The Carole Diaries”!” Davidson wrote in the Facebook post. “You can find it 34 minutes into the episode!!”
So how did Davidson end up sharing airtime with Joe Exotic?
That’s something Davidson wonders too.
She said in an email that she doesn’t follow “Tiger King” and only learned about her appearance in the series “from viewer notes, emails and posts in Facebook.”
She said the legal department for the E.W. Scripps Co., which owns WLEX, and others are looking into how the clip made it onto the show, since no one asked for permission to use it. The clip is about 10 to 15 seconds long.
Davidson anchors WLEX’s newscasts at noon, 12:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Several fans responded to her Facebook post about the show.
“You should charge them,” Lorri Bailey South quipped.
“Lol! We love you wherever we can get you, Dia,” Rivers Edge Holistics said.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 4:28 PM.
