Dolly Parton Fans Slam Lawmaker for Asking if Book Program Is 'Appropriate'
tweeted Thursday morning, which caused enough Dolly fans to weigh in that the matter became one of the day's top trending Twitter topics.While the committee discussed the bill to partner with Parton's program, Meredith said his "[o]nly concern, this may be a strong statement, don't mean it as such, but on page one, section two, we talk about age-appropriate books, and I think that certainly is warranted given today's environment, but I wonder if that's enough.
You know, should it be subject-appropriate as well?"He added that he's seen literature for preschool kids that he feels is "inappropriate content for children that age" and asked an amendment be added regarding subject matters.Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, argued the Imagination Library has long stayed "out of any controversy, and I think that what Dolly Parton and her program have shown is they have age-appropriate and subject matter-appropriate books going to children.""You know, I've always had great respect for this program," Meredith replied. "But as we know, players change over the course of time, and things get shifted.
I'd just feel a little bit more secure if we had language of that nature in this."A video of the exchange was posted on YouTube on an official account for Kentucky Legislature meetings.Meredith ended up voting in favor of advancing the Imagination Library legislation, but his remarks nonetheless angered Stella Parton, a fellow singer and actress."Appalachian people have been maligned as uneducated and to have a Senator from an Appalachian state even think much less say anything derogatory about this incredible program is appalling," the younger Parton said in her original tweet.I'm outraged.
