On Sunday, former “Growing Pains” star Kirk Cameron, a devout Christian, partnered with an organization called “Sing It Louder USA” and openly defied California Governor Gavin Newsom’s lockdown orders, holding a giant Christmas caroling event in the parking lot of The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, California, near Los Angeles (video below).
Cameron had held a similar event the Sunday before that drew roughly 500 people. After the December 6 caroling event, Cameron told TMZ as he advertised the December 13 event:
Listen, we had the most amazing time this last Sunday. It was a Christmas caroling peaceful protest. Have you ever sung Christmas carols by candlelight at a time when your state governor has prohibited you from doing that? In America! Well, this is actually happening; you can’t make this up. People had such a great time; it lifted our spirits. Over 500 people gathered in our local community for this peaceful protest as part of the “Sing It Louder USA” gatherings.
And we’re having an encore protest this Sunday at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, California. We want to double the size of our local gathering and sing Christmas songs, Christmas carols at the top of our voices. It is such an uplifting, inspiration, and encouraging time. We want you to join us. So please meet us this Sunday at 5 p.m. in Thousand Oaks, California at The Oaks mall. We’ll be in the south parking lot; we’ll have lyric sheets; we’ll have candles, we’re gonna have inspirational talks. It’s gonna be an incredible night. It’s part town hall meeting, part worship service. If you love God, if you love Christmas, and you love liberty, you’re not going to want to miss this. See you this Sunday at 5 p.m. at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, California. God bless you.
TMZ reported of the December 13 event, “Law enforcement sources in the area tell us … mall security did call police, and officers from the Thousand Oaks PD that responded simply educated folks on the importance of mask-wearing and left. No one was cited or arrested, despite Gov. Newsom’s lockdown measures.”
Newsom has recently revealed that he has spearheaded an $80 million campaign for public education regarding the coronavirus, which drew criticism amid the myriad businesses that have lost money during the pandemic due to lockdowns.
“I wanted to connect more to the cause of education and I wanted to update you on some of that work; over $80 million in-kind and direct supports for new public education campaign. Over $80 million dollars,” said Newsom. “You’re going to start seeing these billboards. Over 1,000 of these billboards are going up. You may have seen some of these already. These are the new iconic ads that we are putting up. … We’re trying to be a little more ‘smashmouth,’ forgive the phrase; in terms of how we get your attention.”
Video of the carolers below: