Kirk Cameron is still spreading lies to publicize his new book, with his latest attempt at relevance taking place at the Indianapolis Public Library.
I mentioned earlier this month that Cameron, the Christian evangelist and former TV star, was claiming libraries were censoring him despite welcoming drag queens and hosting LGBTQ-friendly events.
Cameron’s publishers at Brave Books told the FOX propaganda outlet that they reached out to 50 public libraries to see if they would sponsor events in which Cameron would read his book to kids. They all said no—which was perfectly fine since they’re under no obligation to host every event request they receive—but several pointed out that Cameron was free to rent out space in their buildings.
I didn’t think he would ever do that because there’s no victimhood in renting out space. It’s much easier to claim you’ve been rejected.
On Thursday, however, his team went ahead and rented space from the Indianapolis Public Library and hosted their own event. It brought in plenty of people, which wasn’t a surprise since, if you’re looking for FOX-loving Christians, Indianapolis offers plenty of options.
But you know Cameron’s publicity team wasn’t going to just call it a day. They had to pretend something much more nefarious was going on, so they and their allies made a number of false claims on social media. For example, an article on FOX’s website said this was “the biggest crowd the library had seen in 137 years.” Cameron’s publisher Brave Books put the number at “over 2,500”:
On Facebook, Cameron added that “this beautiful library has a large auditorium that seats over 2,000 people but leadership never offered it to us or even told us about it!”
The problem is that those are all lies. We know because the library said so.
They counted about 750 people. (Even if that’s a rough estimate, it’s nowhere near 2,500.)
“We’ve had larger events” is the most polite rebuke they could have offered. (Kudos to the library’s social media person for the phrase “We’ve had larger.”)
The library’s been around for more than 137 years. (Leave it to a Creationist to make up a smaller age.)
And the auditorium, which Cameron could have rented for $1,600 but chose not to, only holds 300 people.
That Facebook post from Cameron was later revised to say the auditorium “seats more people” rather than the more obvious lie of “over 2,000 people.” But at no point did Cameron apologize or explain himself. Why would he? He sells falsehoods for a living, not humility.
The God he worships taught him that lying in the name of Jesus is always okay. Which is incredible given that his new book is all about how morality comes from God. Still, he got what he wanted: A publicity cycle revolving around a false persecution narrative, followed by a second one in which he inflated his own popularity.
If those Christian parents want to see courage and morality and excellent storytelling in one place, they should come to a Drag Queen Story Hour next time.