Kirk Cameron Joins Hollywood Exodus Leaving California

Actor Kirk Cameron announced Wednesday that he has moved from California to Tennessee, joining the list of Hollywood stars leak the golden state.

The Californian born and raised and Growing pains The star said to the Washington Examiner that he began thinking “seriously” about moving in the last three to five years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. In 2021, he asked his fans location suggestions to live if they could choose a state.

“It's pretty clear that California has been moving in a particular direction for a long time,” he said.

The actor said the state was “so divisive” and he longed for a place that had a “healthy freedom mindset.”

In recent years, the Hollywood exodus from California has included actor Mark Wahlberg, who decided to leave Los Angeles to find a better place for his children to “thrive.” Sylvester Stallone also moved to Florida in 2021. Fitness guru Jillian Michaels recently left California because of crime and found Florida “less crazy.”

Cameron said he found that Tennessee has “a lot of California refugees,” including “creatives” who have left Hollywood and are creating a growing entertainment industry community in the state. From 2014 to 2022, Tennessee's film and video production jobs have skyrocketed by 82%As a result, the state began to be nicknamed the “Hollywood of the South.”

The Hollywood Reporter reported In 2021, the industry left California for lower taxes and a better quality of life. The report says many have “an appetite for states without an income tax,” such as Tennessee. It also suggests the Volunteer State’s popularity is because there is “an entertainment hub there.”

Cameron said that while the pandemic has helped change the way businesses around the world think about remote work, the film industry was evolving with technology before 2020 to allow entertainment professionals to coordinate and execute productions from anywhere.

“It's shocking how many Californians are here. And when I see them in the grocery store, I tell them, 'Don't make California our Tennessee,'” he said with a laugh.

“If everything is going badly and there are serious economic problems and divisions, they want to be around people who are like them and who think about God, family and country. It's a really nice place to live,” the former teen idol said of his new fellow Tennesseans.

Cameron, now 53 and the father of six adult children, said he was also drawn to the idea of ​​leaving California because three of his children now live in Tennessee, a place he said has “good wholesome values ​​and, just as important, good whiskey.”

He also said many families are leaving states like California because they want to get away from those who are diminishing their property values ​​and quality of life, adding that families want “to be surrounded by like-minded people for safety.”

The TV actor continues to produce and star in his new children's TV show Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirkwhich is a modernized and animated version of Mr. Rogers' NeighborhoodThe new show stars himself and Iggy the Iguana.

In recent years, Cameron has also been a vocal advocate against drag queen reading hours and has drawn thousands of people across the country to library reading hours to promote wholesome, age-appropriate children's books. He has partnered with BRAVE Books to publish several faith-based children's books.

On August 24, Cameron will lead a national initiative to encourage parents and children to host or support a storytime at their local libraries.

Last month, LGBT activists used Pride Month to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by organizing the world's largest drag event in Philadelphia. with more than 260 participants at the National Constitution Center.

“We have a goal to set a Guinness World Record with this event. It’s called ‘See You at the Library,’ and we held this event last summer. Tens of thousands of people showed up at their public libraries that day to read wholesome books to children in their community, to sing the national anthem and to pray together,” he said.

He said last year: “See you at the library“The event has brought together more than 300 public libraries in 46 states and this year he said he hopes the event will be held in more than 500 public libraries in all 50 states.

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Cameron plans to rival the Pride Month record with his own storytime record on Aug. 24. He previously had more than 3,000 attendees at one of his storytimes in Indianapolis.

Children's book author BRAVE Books hopes the Guinness Book of Records will have the “same integrity and objectivity” about its story hour in August.