A Tennessee library director who allegedly hassled “Growing Pains” star Kirk Cameron and his guests during a “story time” event for children last month has since been fired.
Occurring on Feb. 25th, the event featured Cameron, former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Riley Gaines, and Missy Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” all reading conservative children’s books to kids.
Gaines is known for speaking out against “transgender” women’s swimmer Lia Thomas.
All was fine until Hendersonville Library director Allan Morales reportedly realized that the three are conservative Christians and that the books they were going to be reading the children preached conservative ideas.
They were specifically there to read “As You Grow,” a book that “encourages families to focus on Bible teachings rather than critical race theory and transgenderism,” according to the Daily Mail.
Speaking on “Unashamed with Phil & Jase Robertson” last week, Robertson claimed Morales “started a campaign in the community to shut [the event] down without officially canceling it, because then he knew it wouldn’t be good for their library.”
Once that evidently failed, Morales allegedly started causing disruptions.
“Gaines recalled tension building when Cameron felt Morales was speaking too loud during a promotional filming session in the library before the public was allowed in. Gaines did not know if the noise was intentional,” The Tennessean reported.
“Gaines also became upset with some – not all – library staff during filming because of noise that she believed was excessive and intentional,” according to the paper.
In other words, Morales and his staffers allegedly started making loud noises, allegedly to interfere with the work Cameron and his guests were performing.
“They were hollering and laughing and banging books and really disrupting,” Robertson said on last week’s podcast.
“I have no clue at this point what’s going on. I just think, you know, we do a lot of reality TV. We’re not on a set. People just forget we’re in their space, and they forget sometimes to keep their voices down. So we’re asking them a favor. So at this point they’re slamming books together, they’re kicking cabinets, they’re clapping, they’re hollering out loud,” she added.
Following the event, Cameron called Morales out in a Facebook post.
“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,” he wrote.
Despite the rain and the unkind pushback (from one disgruntled librarian), an OVERFLOW crowd of families, mayors, county…
Posted by Kirk Cameron on Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Likewise, following the event, the Sumner County Library Board voted 4-3 to oust Morales, prompting backlash from his family and friends who say he’s been wronged.
“To terminate him so publicly. That was not right. That’s not right, that I know for sure. That is shocking, and it’s sad and it has literally divided a community. It has, you know, branded the library team in ways that only told one side of the story,” his sister, Marilyn Kleist, told local station WTVF.
She added that she’d hope Cameron and his guests would show up for the ouster vote so that they too could be held accountable.
“I was hoping that they would also be held accountable. And that would be brought to light but, it wasn’t. And today Allan did not get an opportunity to speak. He was asked to show up at the hearing and was pretty much invisible. I hope that the rest of the side of the rest of the story comes out,” she said.
Gaines, who lives in the area, has also come to Morales’s defense.
“It’s not an accurate representation of Hendersonville, Gallatin, or Sumner County. 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,” she said.
He has other defenders as well:
Allan Morales did not deserve to lose his job.
He was looking out for members of the community who were actually trying to use the library as a quiet place to work productively. https://t.co/QMT3a2YQS3— ghost_body_look (@skeleton_bag) March 17, 2023
As for Morales, he’s chosen to remain quiet.
“I just have chosen not to say anything. I don’t want to add to all this. 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 told The Tennessean.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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