A Tennessee library director was fired after being “unkind” toward Christian actor and author Kirk Cameron during his appearance at a children’s reading event. Cameron agitated leftists across the country by promoting his pro-God message to children, which is in stark contrast to the drag queen story hours simultaneously being feted.
Cameron appeared at a Henderson, Tennessee library this past February for a massively popular book reading and appearance. It has since been reported that the Sumner County Library Board voted to fire the town’s library director, Allan Morales, based on accusations made by Cameron and others.
The county’s mayor, John Isbell, related to local media that Morales was fired after a 4-3 vote.
Fox News reported that, in addition to Cameron, other notable outspoken voices for conservative causes were also present and were supported in part by a “conservative publishing company.”
“The event, hosted by Cameron at Hendersonville Library, also included “Duck Dynasty” star Missy Robertson and acclaimed Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines,” Fox wrote. “It was held in conjunction with Brave Books, a conservative publishing company.”
Though the firing is being reported as the result of actions made by Morales, there nevertheless remains some doubt as to why everything went down the way it did.
As reported by Fox News, Gaines spoke with local paper The Tennessean, and suggested that political motives were at play as much as anything else. She recalled that while the team was filming promotional content prior to doing their readings, Cameron felt like library staff were purposefully speaking too loudly and interrupting the process.
Gaines likewise felt like the noise was “excessive and intentional.”
Still, she voiced some concern over the final vote to remove Morales.
“It’s not an accurate representation of Hendersonville, Gallatin or Sumner County,” Gaines told the paper. “I hate that it resulted in termination. I don’t know if it was politically driven. There were bomb threats (reported), a lot of things going on (leading up to the event). I don’t know if it is an accurate representation of him.”
Cameron himself later wrote on Facebook a recounting of the day, noting specifically the hostility from one unnamed staff member, presumably Morales, but also celebrating the overwhelming success. “Despite the rain and the unkind pushback (from one disgruntled librarian), an OVERFLOW crowd of families, mayors, county commissioners, and celebs welcomed and joined us at the library in Hendersonville, TN. for singing the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, praying and teaching faith in God and moral values to our kids.”
Fox went on to report that the Tennessean also obtained emails from Morales in which he expressed concern for the predicted turnout. It is unclear if the reasons were founded in sincerity or used to hide behind a political agenda.
“Our invitation was sincere to read a book during our story time,” Morales said in a correspondence to Brave Books. “We guard that time because it is for small children and not adults. We work hard at not promoting any agendas, left or right.”
Morales offered just a few words in response to his firing. Saying he wanted the community to “move on,” he decided the best way to make that happen was to decline further comments.
“I’m hoping now that they have fired me that the community can move on. There’s not much of a point to giving my side. At end of the day, I don’t hate anybody,” he said.
Featured image: Brave Books, Facebook
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